Features

100 Excellent Twitter Feeds for Tech-Savvy Students

Posted by Site Administrator on December 21, 2009 - No Comments

Twitter can be an indispensable resource for online learning, especially for tech students. Real-time discussion about product releases and gadget reviews, tech and new media trends, troubleshooting, and web development can all supplement your course work and give you an idea of what people are talking about in the real world. Here are 100 excellent Twitter feeds to learn about the tech industry, search for jobs and internships, and keep up with tech news.

Tech News

Blogs, online publications and print magazines all head to Twitter to share their latest headlines and talk about the tech news of the day.

@computerworld: This magazine tweets about Apple, the Kindle, Google, Microsoft and other top tech issues.
@macTweeter: Follow @macTweeter for Apple news, iTunes lists and more.
@ITPRO: This UK magazine covers all things IT.
@Techmeme: Coming out of San Francisco, Techmeme aims to be the "web’s technology news site of record."
@TechCrunch: This popular tech site features product reviews, tech news, and editorials.
@slashdot: Keep up with Slashdot’s updating headlines here.
@CNETNews: CNET editors share their photos, videos, reviews, and top news stories here.
@Gizmodo: Get a steady stream of headlines from Gizmodo, on home theater equipment to iPods to AT&T.
@engadget: Gadget geeks will enjoy following this feed for new releases, reviews, and insight into the whole computer and gadget industry.
@informationweek: Business students who love technology should follow the news stories tweeted from @informationweek.
@MacObserver: This news feed includes more than Mac news: follow it for headlines from Canon, World of Warcraft, Google, the mobile media industry, and more.

Bloggers

Bloggers add to the conventional news and media culture by offering behind-the-scenes commentary, coverage of niche tech topics, and more. Here are some of the best you’ll want to follow.

@Scobleizer: Robert Scoble loves blogging and tweeting about the new gadgets and trends coming out of Silicon Valley.
@CharlesLau: Charles Lau, the Internet Reviewer, tracks websites and products here and on his blog.
@techradar: Get tech news from the US, UK and Japan from @techradar.
@labnol: Amit Agarwal is a professional blogger and tech reporter who comments on online education and beyond.
@freecloud: Alan Patrick is a blogger who covers broadband media, mobile media and more.
@ipostfirst: This blogger may just deliver the newest tech news faster than anyone.
@andrewbrust: Andrew Brust is an expert on Microsoft and is the Chief of New Technology at twentysix New York.
@nickbilton: Nick Bilton is the lead tech writer for the Bits Blog, from the NYT.
@alexlmiller: Alex Miller is a good follow if you want a variety of news and inside stories from media, tech, business and more.
@mattbuchanan: Gizmodo writer and blogger Matt Buchanan has a bit of a potty mouth and likes ranting about stupid new products and thinking about yummy snacks.
@bloggersblog: Get blog posts about Twitter and tech.
@steverubel: AdAge columnist and blogger Steve Rubel tweets about tech stuff, iPhones, technology in real life, and more.
@chrisgarrett: Author of ProBloggerBook.com, Chris Garrett likes tweeting about social media, blogging lessons, and more.
@editorialiste: Andrew Nusca is an editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet, but is the editorialiste blogger "by night."
@nptechblogs: Get blog posts from tech blogs all over the web here.
@LATimestech: The LA Times tech blog tweets about Google Labs, texting, ebooks, new media and a lot more.
@mashable: Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, shares blog posts from Mashable. Recent posts cover Facebook, iPhone apps, the TIME Gadget of the Year, and more.
@honeytech: The Honeytech blog covers news, downloads and tips for using Google, for web design, open source, and more.
@tonykarrer: Tony Karrer is a CTO-for-hire, social media expert, eLearning insider and blogger.

Web Development and Design

If you’re into web development and design as a career choice or just for fun, follow these feeds for inspiration, tips, news and support.

@Chromaa: Get helpful tips and web dev news from @Chromaa, a professional and freelance web developer.
@webdesignfreak: You’ll find tutorials and articles pointing to useful apps and design tips here.
@WebWorkerDaily: If you love web design or development and want to make a career out of it, follow this feed for career and industry tips.
@kovshenin: Moscow-based Konstantin Kovshenin tweets about WordPress, shares web design and HTML tutorials, and more.
@chrisspooner: Chris Spooner blogs and tweets about web design and illustration.
@DesignerDepot: You’ll find cheat sheets, Photoshop tutorials, usability tips and more from this feed.
@inspiredmag: Web designers can tune into this feed for daily inspirations, contests and more.
@DesignNewz: Find lots of free tools, tutorials and design ideas from @DesignNewz.
@RussAdams: Russ Adams blogs for webdesign.fm and shares his posts and commentary here.
@naldzgraphics: Ronald Bien shares graphic design tips here.
@sixrevisions: Jacob Gube, the creator of Six Revisions, talks about web development, fonts, typography and more.

Programming, Software and Engineering

Computer programming, software and engineering students will want to subscribe to these feeds for news, reviews, tips and clues about Android, Microsoft Windows, Mac, networking and more.

@EverythingMS: Windows geeks will find everything related to Microsoft here.
@putdotio: This new online storage system is just starting to tweet about its new updates and plans for the future.
@MyAndroidCell: They may not follow you back, but subscribe to this feed to keep up with Android releases and gossip.
@bit-tech: Gamers and programmers in the UK connect on this site and Twitter feed for news, reviews and more.
@smallnetbuilder: If you’re into network design, troubleshooting or engineering, you should visit this feed, from smallnetbuilder.com.
@jtackabury: Follow Jon Tackabury for all kinds of software and development discussion.
@DownloadSquad: The Download Squad tweets new updates and downloads for Google Chrome, Mozilla products and more.
@surya_s: Surya Suravarapu’s feed fuels interesting discussion about software development. Recent tweets share opinions and news about Camel, XML, search engines, Android and more.
@ComputerRealm: Luqmaan is a software developer and webtreneur who likes blogging and tweeting about Windows troubleshooting, Internet customization, social media and his own projects.

Personalities

From Tim Berners-Lee to Guy Kawasaki and hackers like Anthony McKay, you can follow your tech idols here.

@anthonymckay: Hacker Anthony McKay tweets his views on tech, social media and more.
@GuyKawasaki: One of the most successful techies around, Guy Kawasaki is a master of new media, branding and tweeting.
@richardlai: Richard Lai is an Engadget editor who lives in London and tweets things like "Samsung Bada needs two more ’s.’"
@LanceUlanoff: Lance Ulanoff, the editor-in-chief of PCMag.com, tweets about new gadgets, general tech news, and his love for robotics.
@emoltzen: Ed Moltzen is the managing editor for Test Center for CRN, CRNtech, VAR Biz and Channelweb.com, and likes commenting on mobile media and more.
@j_timmer: John Timmer, chief science "wrangler" for Ars Technica, tweets about genetics, Verizon, data management and more.
@timberners_lee: The real inventor of the Internet.
@ohnorosco: Ross Miller is another Engadget editor whose random but fun Twitter feed touches on banjos, new gadgets, troubleshooting, and pubs.
@donreisinger: Don Reisinger writes The Digital Home column for CNET.
@jack: Jack Dorsey is the creator, co-founder and chairman of Twitter.

Career and Jobs

Use these feeds to look for tech, media and IT jobs and internships across the U.S.

@exectweets: Follow this feed to get connected tech execs and news.
@Jobs_Tech_LA: If you’re in the LA area and want to find a job in development, technical design, engineering and beyond, check here.
@jobsintech: Creative and tech types will find job postings around the U.S. here.
@sfmobilejobs: Get digital tech and mobile jobs from around the country (not just San Francisco).
@TechJob_Chicago: This is the spot for Chicago-based techies to look for jobs.
@SocialMediaJob: If you want a job or internship in social media marketing, product management, community management or a related field, check here.
@Web2point0jobs: This feed claims to direct you to the highest paying tech jobs in application development, web design, and more.
@Joblighted: @Joblighted is a good spot to find programming and developing jobs in the U.S.
@wFreelanceJobs: Look for freelance web design jobs here.
@caitjobs: This feed is updated regularly and highlights tech and IT jobs in California.

Media

Learn about the new trends, careers, concepts and discussions in media and new media, from TV to social media and new media marketing.

@ryanlawler: Ryan Lawler writes for GigaOm and New TeeVee, and you’ll find tweets about Hulu, Vevo and other online media sites here.
@tconrad: Tom Conrad, the CTO at Pandora, tweets about business travel and all sorts of online media trends.
@fforward: This feed is a true mix of media, art and design, highlighting what’s new and beautiful and car design, gadgets, and more.
@juliaroy: Julia combines a talent for fashion and digital media in her job as Coach’s senior manager of new media.
@NewTeeVee: If you want to know what’s next for TV, check out this feed.
@JesseNewhart: Jesse is a multimedia and new media strategist who tweets about blogging, real-time web, Google, and more.
@douglasi: Douglas Idugboe is a new media evangelist who shares marketing tips and social media advice.
@themediaisdying: Learn how to break into the changing media industry with better pitches and a cutting edge education.
@tomkennedy: If you’re interested in changing the way we receive news, you’ll want to follow @tomkennedy.

Gaming

Whether you’re a game designer or just seriously into the world of online, virtual, and video gaming, check out these feeds.

@GeekSpazz: GeekSpazz tweets about social media and gaming here.
@fourzerotwo: Robert Bowling is a creative strategist who makes video games like Modern Warfare 2.
@Kotaku: Get game reviews and news from @Kotaku.
@gamergeeks: This gaming community tweets reviews, asks for user input, shares new game releases and apps, and more.
@8bitfix: You’ll find out when games and extra releases for products like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Transformers are available when you follow @8bitfix.

Tips and Research

Even if you’re a tech-savvy student, you probably run into trouble with your computer, network or iPhone at some point. Follow these feeds for tips and advice from the pros.

@10steps: If you work with Photoshop, you’ll find tutorials and tips here.
@ismashphone: Get iPhone tips here.
@tinyhacker: Get general tips for iPod Touch, RSS feeds, eBay, file sharing and more.
@IBMResearch: IBM geeks can ask questions and keep up with research projects here.
@howtogeek: Follow @howtogeek if you have computer problems or just want to learn basic troubleshooting tips.
@linuxhub: Linux users will find tips and hacks here.

Entrepreneurship

Get inspired to start your own tech business when you follow these ambitious tweeters.

@radtech: Ryan and Zach share advice, tips and troubleshooting for Mac, iPod and iPhone.
@sandieman: Rob Sandie is the co-founder and president of viddler.com.
@Jesse: Jesse Stay is the CEO of SocialToo.com and tweets about social media, web development and more.
@N3W_Media: Ed Stivala is the founder of a UK-based digital agency and consulting group, N3W_Media.
@ryanblock: Ryan Block has quite a resume: he’s the co-founder of gdgt and is also a writer and editor for tech pubs.
@davemorin: Dave Morin is an entrepreneur in the tech and social media industries who works for Facebook.
@StartupPro: Martin Zwilling is a veteran startup mentor, angel investor and tech expert.
@chrishogg: Chris Hogg is a social media expert and CEO of the user-generated news site Digital Journal.
@Woork: Antonio Lupetti is the founder of Woork Up, a web community for web designers, tech news and digital inspiration.
@davidlano: David Lano loves Apple, web design and development, and starting new projects.

50 Essential Blog Posts on Education Reform

Posted by Site Administrator on December 16, 2009 - No Comments

Behind health care reform, education reform may be one of the most talked-about and controversial subjects of the moment. So much needs to be repaired in public education, and everyone seems to have their own opinion about how it should be done. Whether you are working on your education degree or are a veteran teacher, it’s important to stay informed about the state of education and the proposed reforms. These 50 blog posts will help you do just that by sorting out some of the major topics being discussed by policy makers, politicians, and educators.

Education, Politics, and Government

These posts highlight the intersection of education, politics, and government.

An open letter to President Obama on schools, education, and teaching. Kenneth Bernstein has written a powerful letter to the president asking him to carefully examine how his administration approaches education reform.
Comparing House and Senate School Facilities Programs in the Student Loan Bill. Learn about the legislation surrounding the first attempt of the federal government to fund much-needed K-12 school building repair, renovation, and construction.
Why Is the Secretary of Education Lobbying on the Health Care Bill?. Frederick Hess wonders about the propriety and intentions of Arne Duncan’s involvement in gathering support for the health care bill.
Two Things Edwonk Wants Back From The Mid-00s: Stock Prices & Pre-Political Hess. Edwonk counters Hess’ concerns over Duncan’s political involvement and offers a view from the other side.
Whatever Happened to that Student Loan Bill? This post provides information about the status of the student loan bill as well as an interesting perspective on why those in the education sector may be so interested in the health care bill.
Skeptics of Standardized Tests Weigh In on ESEA. Forum for Education and Democracy is a group working to educate politicians on the benefits of project-based education over the current standardized testing model. Find out what they have to say and what they are doing to create change.
Race to the Top Versus the Money Chase. Paul Peterson discusses his views on why teachers’ association’s political involvement may prevent productive reform of the teaching profession.
saved by the stimulus, or adventures in accounting. This post explores the effects of this summer’s stimulus package on education, and more specifically, teachers, and wonders at why it has taken so long for funding transparency to become available.
Throwing Teachers Out Of Their Homes And Onto The Streets? Take a look at how funding problems can result in a worrisome situation for educators.
Revisiting the No-Washington-Meddling Doctrine. This post highlights one reason why there is tension over the NCLB/ESEA reauthorization.
Why Business Leaders Should Not Be in the Driver’s Seat. According to Diane Ravitch, schools should not be run like a business or by business leaders. She explains why in this thought-provoking piece.

The State of Education Reform

Examine the current state of education and education reform with the information in these posts.

What Arne Duncan Thinks of No Child Left Behind. This article was written just after Duncan was appointed as Secretary of Education. Find out what he had to say then about NCLB and other education reform issues.
Transcript: An Hour With Arne Duncan. Here is a more recent look at what Duncan has to say about the state of education and education reform. Find video footage, a link to a full transcript, and analysis of his talk within this post.
Race to the Top and the Status of Education Innovation. Find out about a report recently released that rates public schools on innovation in categories such as management, technology, and finance.
ISO an article that fills in the bubbles—I mean blanks. Linda Perlstein asks for some transparency in the current administration’s approach to education policy.
Thompson: Is Our Education Policy Folks Learning?. John Thompson thinks about policy reform by looking back at the early days of NCLB and wonders if anything has changed.
I’m Thankful …. for the Discord? This post illustrates why disagreement and discussion is important in finding solutions for education reform.
Parent Power on Facebook. Learn how the Internet is empowering parents to make important changes to education policy.
Read Growing Pains: Scaling Up the Nation’s Best Charter Schools. Not only does this post provide an opportunity to learn about some of the struggles with charter schools, but it also provides links to some of the politics behind getting this information publicly released.
Non-Learners. Lynne Munson takes a look at the inability of the leaders of Partnership for 21st Century Skills to learn when faced with sound advice.
Common Core Standards update. Get an update on the Common Core Standards Initiative and what is in the works for public education.
School Reform Retreat? This blog post shares an editorial piece from the Wall Street Journal that wonders if the Race to the Top initiative is really all that it was originally touted to be.

Specific Reform Issues

From innovation in education to charter schools to teacher evaluation, these posts focus on specific issues being debated in reform discussions.

School District Consolidation: What Happens When You Assume. Take a look at a few of the problems with school district consolidation with the information here.
Leigh McGuigan: Turning Around Low-Performing Schools. McGuigan looks at ways to turn around low-performing schools in order to better serve students and ensure better quality teachers.
Leigh McGuigan: On Innovation. Using examples from her experience in Cleveland schools and the thoughts of Clayton Christensen and his book Disrupting Class, McGuigan offers suggestions to make significant changes in schools through innovation.
Data Visualization for the Classroom: Part I. The Science Goddess presents a useful way of looking at student assessment to look beyond simple numbers and percentages and instead focus on whether or not the class is understanding the concepts being taught.
Charters show the way forward. This post describes the attributes of successful charter schools and posits the idea that all public schools should adopt the same qualities.
Social and Economic Goals of Schooling. With so much of a child’s life devoted to education, it is important to consider the goal of the education beyond just achieving a high-paying job. This post provides perspective on what other considerations might be of importance.
Teacher Magazine: NCLB Definition of Professional Development Scrutinized. Take a look at an issue of professional development that was a part of the original NCLB, but not monitored or enforced, and see what is being said about it.
Pay Bonuses for AP Teachers Only?. This story about bonuses for AP teacher performance highlights the issue surrounding the idea of incentive-based pay.
Metaphor Quest. Learn how testing students in school should be like a swimming test with this blog post.
School Choice Reduces Crime, Increases College-Attendance, and Makes Your Breath Smell Better. All except that breath thing, the thoughts here demonstrate why school choice should be a possibility for students.
Sunday Commentary: How Should We Measure the Achievement Gap?" Corey Bower thinks about measuring and closing the achievement gap in schools here.
A canard worth torpedoing. Take a look at why the view of for-profit education may not be such a bad one after all.
What’s Needed to Make Sure Innovation Is Working?. Check out this online conversation about innovation in education and what could make it successful.
Getting Real About Teacher Evaluation. Renee Moore debunks two myths about teacher competency and lays out suggestions for more successful teacher evaluation.
One Bar For All?. Dr. Pezz suggests that science and math achievement should be tailored to the individual student’s abilities in this post.

Primary and Secondary Education

These posts look at reform issues specific to primary or secondary education.

The Outcry Over Preschool Test-Prep and ‘Gifted’ Kindergartens. This post takes a look at the idea of prepping very young students for test-taking as well as other issues such as early labeling of children as "gifted" and unrealistic expectations for preschoolers.
Urging Solutions on ‘Chronic Absence’ in Elementary Schools. Discovering exactly why absenteeism is occurring in elementary schools, especially among those in poverty, is the first step in solving the problem, which negatively impacts the learning for these young students.
The Proliferation of Federal High School Intervention Programs. Learn about a few federal programs to help reduce the high-school dropout rates and find out if they are successful.
After high school, what happens? This post highlights the need for data collection to measure the success (or lack thereof) of the educational system that delivers students to college.
College success gap. See the statistics on the success gap of college-bound minority and low-income students as well as some thoughts on why this gap may be occurring.
The Other Thirteen. While many alternative schools provide an opportunity for educating students who might not succeed in a traditional school, this post makes a strong argument for why keeping a focus on reform in traditional schools is still important.
Willingham on Online Teaching. This post includes a link to an article in The Washington Post that describes how teachers’ relationships with online students in K-12 environments are strong and actually have benefits over the relationships formed in a traditional classroom.

Higher Education

Take a look at what’s going on in the world of higher education reform with these posts.

At Long Last, Department of Education Puts the Interests of Students First. This blog post describes preliminary proposals that will help regulate and prevent against unscrupulous for-profit colleges taking advantage of working-class students.
Higher Ed by the Numbers. The data in this post provides many good reasons why student loan reform is desperately needed.
Claiborne Pell’s Unfulfilled Legacy. Set against the backdrop of the Pell grant, this post describes why the cost of college must be addressed and corrected.
We need more reporting like this…. This post shares an article out of Canada that explores the international problem of an increasing gender gap on campuses.
Tuition Tax Turmoil. In the ongoing discussion of the high cost of a college education, this post describes yet another increase in the cost of school and the uproar over it.
Fast Track, Slow Ride, Grow Up. Nancy Flanagan proposes that extending college and putting off entering the real world doesn’t do students any favors.

100 Must-See Documentaries for Tech Geeks

Posted by Site Administrator on December 13, 2009 - No Comments

Even if you’re a veritable tech expert, there is always more you can learn about some aspect of modern technology, especially since it changes and evolves so rapidly. These 100 documentaries have tried to capture the history, culture and social impact of technologies and the people who use them. Better yet, they offer not only an opportunity to learn about something new outside of your college courses, but also some great entertainment as well.

Gaming

These documentaries focus on gaming systems, specific games and the people who play them–often to an obsessive degree.

Second Skin: This documentary takes a look at groups of gamers who play MMO games like Second Life, World of Warcraft and Everquest.
The King of Kong: Watch as these gaming geeks battle it out to see who’s the real champion of Donkey Kong.
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade: Hear from the 1982 world videogame champs in this documentary.
Once Upon Atari: Learn more about one of the first video gaming systems in this documentary.
Get Lamp: Check out this film to learn about the early computer games that relied on text rather than graphics to tell the story.
/afk: This film explores the obsession that can sometimes result from playing online games.
Gold Farmers: This film will help you learn about the people who collect gold in online games to sell it for real world money to other players.
TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball: If you’re more of a fan of pinball, you’ll appreciate this documentary about the history of the game.
Playing Columbine: After creating an offensive and violent game based on the Columbine tragedy, this filmmaker and programmer explores some of the larger issues of violence in video games in this documentary.
Video Game Revolution: Learn how the early video games of the 1960’s went on to spawn the multi-million dollar video gaming industry of today in this film.
8 BIT: Check out this film for more information on how video games have influenced music and art.
Rise of the Video Game: This documentary series will teach you about the history of video games, from the start to the present day.
Video Game Invasion: Hosted by Tony Hawk, this film will show you how video games went from a novelty to an obsession for developers.
Playing to Win: In this documentary series you’ll be able to see inside the video game industry and learn about everything from virtual worlds to healthy games.
Flashback NES: If you were lucky enough to have an NES back in the day, you’ll love this nostalgic look back at the system.

Robots and Artificial Intelligence

Learn more about new and historical developments in AI and robotics technology through these documentaries.

Ciao Robot: This film takes a look at the growing interest in roboethics.
The Great Robot Race: Check out this episode of NOVA to learn about this amazing event where driverless cars race across the desert.
Love Machine: Here, you’ll be able to see what scientists envision the future of robots to be like, and how our human interactions with them will be.
The Man Behind the Curtain: The life of amateur artificial intelligence researcher Chris McKinstry is often a troubled one, and this film follows his path to self-destruction.
2001: HAL’s Legacy: Arthur C. Clark’s book saw the year 2001 as already having the sophisticated technology to build artificially intelligent computers like HAL, but this film shows how close or far we might actually be from that goal.
Gearing Up: In this documentary you’ll see what goes on at the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Computers

These great documentaries will help you learn the history of the computers we use today.

The Machine That Changed the World: Here you’ll be able to learn loads about early computer history.
Triumph of the Nerds: This documentary series focuses on the rise of computing empires like Apple, IBM, Windows and more.
Revolution OS: Use this film as an opportunity to learn more about the open source movement.
Welcome to Macintosh: Curious to learn more about the computer and gadget empire of Apple? Then check out this great film.
Aardvark’d: 12 Weeks with Geeks: In this documentary, four interns are brought to New York and given just 12 weeks to design, refine and ship a program.
The Code: Learn more about Linux through this film.
The Code-Breakers: This documentary shows how poor countries are using free and open source software for development.
Microprocessor Chronicles: Computers wouldn’t be what they are without microprocessors, and you can learn about their history and development here.
Nerd TV: In this documentary series you’ll hear from some of the biggest names in computing, technology and programming.
Creation of the Computer: In this short documentary you can discover the developments and individuals that helped the computer get where it is today.

The Web

Find out more about where the web came from, how people use it for business and how it’s affecting society in these documentaries.

BBS: The Documentary: Go back in time and see the heyday of the BBS (bulletin board system) and the people who used it for a variety of purposes.
Code Rush: This documentary follows developers at Netscape in 1998 as they rushed to release a new browser to compete with Microsoft.
Nerds 2.0: This great PBS documentary will take you back through the history of the Internet.
E-Dreams: Follow the rise and fall of Kozmo.com as it profits from the dot.com bubble and suffers after its burst.
Startup.com: Learn more about the birth and failure of the new media company govWorks.com in this film.
Download: The True Story of the Internet: This series will help you learn about the history of the Internet.
24 Hours on Craigslist: Check out this documentary that follows the people behind a single day’s posts made on Craigslist.
Home Page: This 1999 documentary addresses the creation of web blogs and personal web sites.
Hyperland: Made in 1990, this film will be a nostalgic romp back to the earliest days of the Internet.
We Live in Public: This film follows the life of dot.com entrepreneur Josh Harris over the past ten years.

Hacking and Piracy

These films will show you the darker side of computer geekdom.

Hackers Wanted: Here you can learn about some of the big names in hacking throughout history.
Hackers are People Too: This film, made by hackers themselves, aims to show that hackers are ordinary people just like anyone else.
Good Copy, Bad Copy: Check out this film to learn more about issues of copyrights and Internet peer-to-peer sharing.
Freedom Downtime: This film offers sympathy to convicted computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, who the filmmakers feel has been misrepresented and vilified.
Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age: Hacking didn’t always mean what it does today, and this film takes you back to the original meaning and some of the first hackers.
In the Realm of the Hackers: In this film you’ll learn about the teenagers in the hacker community of Melbourne, Australia in the late 80’s to the early 90’s.
Cyber War: Learn how one young man hacked into the CIA’s computer system and the ongoing wars between hackers and security systems.
Steal This Film: This film documents the movement against restrictions on intellectual property
The History of Hacking: Use this movie to learn more about where hacking came from and how it came to be what it is today.

Negative Tech

Check out these films that examine some of the less than positive ways that technology can be utilized.

Architects of Control: This documentary explains how new technology has made it easier than ever before to control how people think and act.
Big Brother, Big Business: Learn how technology is being used to monitor just about everything you do or say in this film.
Holes In Heaven?: Learn how High Frequency Active Aural Research Programs could be posing a danger to our very atmosphere.
Pandora’s Box: In this television documentary series you’ll see how developments like nuclear power, cybernetics, systems analysis and more have been put to ill uses.
The Invisible Machine: Electromagnetic Warfare: This film explains that you may not be able to see electromagnetic waves themselves but the destruction they invite is evident.
Info Wars: Today warfare can be waged with information as well, and this film shows the battles between media, corporations and individuals.

Music

These documentaries focus on technology-based ways of making music.

Nerdcore Rising: Learn about a group of self-proclaimed nerds who have started a music genre all about rapping about things like video games, computers and geek culture.
Moog: Check out this documentary to discover the life and history of the founder of the synthesizer.
Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet: If you love video games and music why not combine them with the stylings shown in this movie?
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey: Through this film you can learn more about the development and uses of the theremin.
Better Living Through Circuitry: This documentary takes a look at electronic music and the dance culture that developed around it.

Environment

Give these documentaries a try to learn about new technologies that could help society live more sustainably.

Who Killed the Electric Car?: Electric cars seemed like the wave of the future–that is until they were all destroyed. Follow this film to learn more about the demise of this more environmentally friendly means of transportation.
Cold Fusion: Fire from Water: Learn more about this potentially amazing source of energy through this film.
Here Comes the Sun: In this documentary you’ll hear about the incredible potential for using solar energy to power our cities.

Food Technology

Food today is often far from natural and these documentaries show the real engineering and technology behind it all.

Food Inc: You’ll never look at your food the same way again after viewing this documentary on where food comes from.
The Future of Food: Take a look at the way many of the foods in your pantry may have been modified in this documentary.
Our Daily Bread: This film offers up a relatively unbiased look at industrial food production and high-tech farming.

Geek Culture

With a love of technology often comes a love of other geeky things, and these documentaries take a look at these groups.

Monster Camp: This unique camp allows campers to transform into heroes, monsters, and other creatures to bring fantasies to life.
Darkon: This documentary follows the triumphs and defeats of a group of people playing LARP games.
Trekkies: If you’re a Star Trek fan or just want to learn more about these fervent devotees check out this interesting and sometimes funny documentary.
Comic Book Confidential: This documentary will take you through the history of the comic book and some of the biggest names to ever write and illustrate for it.
A Galaxy Far Far Away: Those who prefer Star Wars will enjoy this cross country romp in an attempt to figure out just what it is about these films that draws so many people to them.
Quantum Hoops: Watch as this incredibly academic team at Caltech attempts to win at least one game to end their season.

Space

These movies will show you some of the people and technologies that make space exploration possible.

Five Years on Mars: Check out this documentary to learn about the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the discoveries they’ve made in their years on the planet.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon: This documentary takes the viewpoint that much of the United State’s space exploration in the 60’s was a hoax. Whether you agree or not, it’s an interesting expedition into the history of space travel.
For All Mankind: This documentary is about the 24 men who traveled to the moon, changing human history.
Apollo 11: The Untold Story: Learn how close the lunar mission of Apollo 11 actually came to disaster in this riveting documentary.

Mathematics

Learn more about the math behind it all in these informative documentaries.

Fractals: The Colors of Infinity: This short documentary will help teach you about the history and uses of fractals.
The Story of Maths: In this documentary series you’ll get a chance to learn about the history of the field of mathematics.
Fermat’s Last Theorem: Watch as determined mathematician Andrew Wiles works to prove Fermat’s Theorem in this interesting film.
Dangerous Knowledge: This documentary from the BBC takes a look at four of the world’s premier mathematicians.
Hard Problems: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest: Follow along as some of the United State’s most gifted students compete in this worldwide math competition.
N is a Number: This film tells the story of a man who, despite having no home or job, was one of the most prolific mathematicians in history.
Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension: If you’ve ever wanted to delve into the complex world of fractals, this film will help you to do so.

Biotech and Genetics

Check out these titles for an opportunity to learn about advances in genetic engineering.

Patent For A Pig: The Big Business of Genetics: This film will let you learn more about how engineering animals has become the norm and a pretty profitable industry for food producers.
Building Gods: This documentary explores some of the most pressing questions behind humanity, artificial intelligence and genetic design and the impact they might have on our very souls.
Exploring Life Extension: New technologies have made it possible for people to live longer and look younger than ever before, as this film shows.
Life Running Out of Control: Check out this film to get a perspective on the ethics of genetic engineering.

Military Tech

Learn more about how technology is developed and utilized by the military and the CIA in these documentaries.

The Manhattan Project: This documentary will let you learn more about the nuclear technology that led to the development of the first atomic bomb.
Battle of the X-Planes: Follow Lockheed and Boeing as they battle it out for the biggest defense contract in history in this film.
The KGB, the Computer and Me: Even in the early days of computing there were hackers, as this story of a 1986 battle between a computer developer and a KGB agent shows.

Miscellaneous

These documentaries cover everything from typefaces to iPods.

Objectified: This documentary examines our relationships with manufactured objects and the people who design them.
Helvetica: Learn more about this ubiquitous font in this documentary.
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine: Garry Kasparov is a great chess player, but this films documents his biggest challenge: a computer named Deep Blue.
Light Fantastic: Check out this BBC documentary to learn more about the amazing power of light.
Gizmo!: This 1977 documentary tells the story of some improbable inventions from the past.
The White Diamond: Renowned director Werner Herzog shows the amazing jungle airship and how it plans to explore the rainforest.
The Way Things Go: Learn about these artist’s amazing kinetic sculpture and how it eventually self-destructs.
The iPod Revolution: This documentary will help you learn about Apple’s amazing development of the iPod.
Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs: In this 2003 documentary, filmmakers try to figure out who is the more powerful figure in computing.

50 Excellent, Scholarly Literary Criticism Blogs

Posted by Site Administrator on December 7, 2009 - No Comments

One of the fascinating aspects of literature is that the same work can be read by many different people in many different ways. Whether you are an aspiring scholar of literature or just enjoy reading what others have to say about what they have read, these blogs offer an excellent way for you to delve into the world of literary criticism. Hear what professionals, professors, students, and regular Joes and Janes have to say about the works they are reading and studying.

General Literary Criticism

These blogs offer literary criticism on a broad range of topics, genres, and authors.

The Reading Experience. Daniel Green focuses on contemporary literary fiction, with an emphasis on American literature.
Asylum. Get detailed analyses of mostly contemporary literature, with several non-fiction books making the list, as well as author interviews on this blog.
The Valve. A collaborative blog, the authors here write about their own particular literary interests and open the comments for discussion.
Waggish. David Auerbach provides literary criticism on European works on his blog.
A Momentary Taste of Being. In addition to his thoughts on literature, this blogger also shares interesting tidbits about books and what others are saying about literature.
This Space. Stephen Mitchelmore writes predominately about European literature on his engaging blog.
ABC of Reading. Thomas McGonigle writes critically about books as well as the people who write them.
The Elegant Variation. Mark Sarvas’ popular and sometimes controversial blog contains everything from literary criticism to book reviews to discussions about his own writing.
That Shakespearean Rag. Check out the commentary here from Steven W. Beattie, a writer and critic from Ontario.
pseudopodium. With an unusual format, this blog shares bite-sized morsels of criticism.
Salonica. World literature, almost exclusively non-US literature, is the focus of this blog.
The Existence Machine. Richard Crary provides his literary criticism here.
booklit. Set up as book reviews, these posts provide in-depth analysis and critique of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction.
Tales from the Reading Room. These posts aren’t just reviews of books, but analyses of genres, explorations of theory, and so much more.

Literary Criticism and More

These bloggers include other aspects in their critiques, such as film and politics, or also include other information in addition to literary criticism.

Blographia Literaria. Andrew Seal emphasizes literary criticism in his blog with plenty of other interesting side journeys such as film and poetry.
A Piece of Monologue. Literature, philosophy, and film are featured on this blog that specializes in news and analysis of "modernism, continental philosophy and the work of Samuel Beckett."
Jacob Russell’s Barking Dog. Poetry, literature, and politics exist side-by-side in this blog.
One-Way Street. Find analysis of literature, film, and politics in an attempt to make sense of life.
Chekhov’s Mistress. Bud Parr blogs here about all things literature as well as movies, family, and other topics that he always manages to tie back to literature.
Literary Jewels. Literary criticism resides alongside poetry and more in this blog.
Blog of a Bookslut. Just as you might gather from the name of the blog, the literary criticism here frequently contains adult language, but the content is first-rate.
Letters from a Librarian. This librarian writes in-depth about the books she’s reading as well as shares other fun bits of information.
Nigel Beale Nota Bene Books. Literature, book collecting, author interviews, and much more are all featured on Beale’s blog.
PhiloBiblos. Links, reviews, and discourse on all things literary are featured on this librarian’s blog.
Surroundings. Poet Rob Mackenzie includes a good amount of literary criticism in his blog that also touches on the business of poetry, politics, and more.
Caustic Cover Critic. While the premise here is to critique the book covers, this blogger also provides solid commentary on the content inside the books as well.

From Academia

Find out what the professors and students have to say about literature in these blogs.

Perplexed with Narrow Passages. Christopher Vilmar is a professor at Salisbury University and blogs about literature, books, and university life.
Blog Meridian. Find original poems, comments on teaching, and other topics sprinkled among the literature, film, and art criticism found here.
A Commonplace Blog. This English professor at Texas A&M writes about literature, academia, and writing.
Text Patterns. Alan Jacobs offers commentary on reading, writing, and research and their connection to new media and technology.
The Pinocchio Theory. With a heavy emphasis on literary theory and support from unexpected sources, Steven Shaviro shares his thoughts here.
Novel Readings. Professor Rohan Maitzen shares the topics being discussed in her classes, along with her critic of the works.
Steve Ersinghaus. Literature, teaching, and academia are all featured on Ersinghaus’ blog.
The Little Professor. Dr. Miriam Burstein blogs about Victorian literature as well as academia.
zunguzungu. A PhD student at Berkeley, Aaron Bady puts down his thoughts on literature and politics here.
The Mumpsimus. Matthew Cheney writes about a wide variety of literature with a penchant for the unusual.
Red, Inc.. The students at Susquehanna University include literary criticism, book reviews, and more on this blog.
The Classroom Conservative. Canadian professor Craig Monk blogs a week-by-week detail of his classes as well as his thoughts on academia.
Ludwig Richter’s Blog. Literature and philosophy are the focus of this professor’s blog.
Maitresse. This PhD student in Paris writes frequently on the women writers of England and France in the early half of the 20th century.
Necromancy Never Pays. Find detailed analyses of books from this English teacher.

Specific Authors, Genres, and Periods

Focus more specifically on a particular author, genre, or time period with the literary criticism here.

Wuthering Expectations. 19th century literature takes the stage on this blog, with a few meanderings into modern literature as well.
The Long Eighteenth. Check out this blog for literary criticism and scholarship discussions on the 18th century on this blog.
Torque Control. Written by the editors of Vector, a critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association, the posts here include scholarly insight on works from the genre.
Vertigo: Collecting & Reading WG Sebald. While much of the content here surrounds the German writer, Sebald, some posts touch on other novels with embedded photographs.
In the Middle. This medieval studies collaborative blog features new books examining medieval works as well as the bloggers’ own scholarship on the topic.
Wynken de Worde. Early modern literature (specifically Shakespeare and Renaissance drama), history of book making, and early modern culture are the subject of this blog.

Specific Approaches

These three blogs feature the theories of three noted literary critics.

The Educated Imagination. The work of Canadian literary theorist, Northrop Frye, is the subject of this entertaining blog.
OnFiction. This collaborative blog explores the psychology of fiction by trying to understand how fiction is created and how readers engage in fiction.
Contra James Wood. Not only can you find literary criticism on this blog, but you can be sure it will be in opposition to the thinking of famed literary critic, James Wood.

100 Great Gift Ideas for the Book Lover in Your Life

Posted by Site Administrator on December 6, 2009 - No Comments

If you have a book lover in your life, then you have probably struggled with the dilemma of buying a book and not knowing if he or she has read it, or just settling for an impersonal gift card to a bookstore. This list solves that problem for you by offering 100 awesome ideas to use the next time you need to find a gift for a book lover. Dive into this list to find fun gifts, practical gifts, and unique gifts–all that are just right for anyone wild about books.

Fun Stuff for Readers

These gift ideas range from the elegant to the whimsical and are sure to please.

Hand-made books. There are a wide variety of hand-made books, from the trendy to heirloom quality, available to use as a special journal, for keeping book lists, or just to appreciate the artisan’s skill.
Personalized book. Create a memorable gift when you commission a custom book documenting a lifetime, a family, or whatever your story.
Music. Find the perfect background music to play while your reader indulges in her favorite book. Try Beethoven for Book Lovers or Brahms for Book Lovers, available in CD or MP3 download.
Discount membership to a bookstore. Many bookstores offer discount memberships for a small annual fee. Purchase a membership for your book lover so they can enjoy discounts all year.
Donate to a library. If your reader is more the public library type, make a donation in his name to the library he frequents.
Recycled book gifts. There are lots of fun ways to recycle books like these custom-made book boxes.
Yard art. If you have plenty of money burning a hole in your pocket, then take a look at these garden statues of children reading.
Gift basket. Give a pre-made gift basket full of yummy goodies to enjoy while reading.
Key chain. This key chain is simple and elegant enough for a man or woman while proclaiming the owner’s love of reading.
Magnets. Magnets are a fun and easy way for your book lover to show off what she likes about reading.
Coffee accessories. This coffee mug shows everyone that its owner enjoys reading, as does this coffee wrap for drinks on the go.
Shakespeare umbrella. Keep the rain off your favorite book lover with this Shakespeare umbrella.
Charles Dickens action figure. This playful gift is just right for the book lover with an interest in Dickens. Other literary figures are also available.
Trivial Pursuit: Book Lover’s Edition. If the Literature section of the regular Trivial Pursuit game is your book lover’s favorite section, then this game is sure to be right up his alley.

Books about Books

These books are all about books. What more could a book lover want?

The Book Lover’s Borrow Book. This book has perforated book marks with a place to write your name on each. When you lend a book to someone, write your name on the bookmark and include it in your book. Write the name of the person to whom you loaned the book on the stub. Both you and the borrower have a record of where the book belongs.
What I’ve Read Mini Journal. Just the perfect size to keep in your handbag, this small journal provides a place for book lovers to keep a record of what they’ve read.
Books to Check Out. This spiral notebook is an excellent place for book lovers to keep their list of books to be read as well as favorite quotes, a place to keep track of books on loan, and a pocket for book review clippings.
Booknotes: The Booklover’s Organizer. This organizer offers various ways to keep lists of books you want to read and also includes a section just for book groups.
Reading Group Journal: Notes in the Margin. With a place to keep record of 18 books, this journal provides a place to take notes, write down discussion topics, write favorite quotes, and even has online resources for book groups.
Good Reading: the Magazine for Book Lovers. If your favorite reader just can’t get enough about books, then try this magazine subscription that will provide monthly issues with an Australian perspective.
The Children’s Literature Lover’s Book of Lists. If children’s literature is your book lover’s favorite genre, then this book is a must.
A Passion for Books. How about giving a book all about books? This book covers everything from stories to essays to cartoons…all about books.
Book Lust. Compiled by a librarian and long-time book reviewer, this book provides suggestions for reading depending on the mood you are feeling.

Accessories for Reading

While a book is really the only thing a book lover needs, these accessories will make the experience that much more enjoyable.

Book rest pillow. Sitting up in bed reading is much more comfortable when you have a pillow made just for reading.
Book light. With so many to choose from, a book light is a gift you can give in any price range and in any number of designs.
Bookmarks. From bamboo to beautiful jeweled styles, you can always find a bookmark to fit the personality of your book lover.
Personal embosser. The personal embosser is an elegant way for book lovers to add a personal touch to their book identification.
Book tote. Many book lovers like to have a tote bag they can carry when attending book group, for their trip to the library, or to use at the book store in place of a plastic bag.
Book darts. These little book marks are a great way to indicate exactly where your book lover left off last time he was reading.
Book covers. Reusable book covers are a great way to protect books that travel around with their owners.
Bookends. Book ends will always come in handy for those who collect the books they read. Try something whimsical like these fish bowl bookends or these A to Z bookends.
Magnifiers. Some readers, especially those whose eyesight is beginning to fail, enjoy using book magnifiers to help with their reading.
Book weight. If your reader can’t put her book down while eating or is busy holding a baby, then a book weight may be in order.
eBook reader. If your book lover is high tech, then a device like a Kindle or a Nook is the perfect gift for reading books electronically.
eBook reader accessories. He already has a Kindle? Then try accessories such as a screen protector or a cover for his eReader.
Audio books. For avid readers who are always on the go or have long commutes, audio books are a great way to listen to books when your book lover doesn’t have time to read.

Furniture for Book Lovers

From a relaxing massaging bed rest to a unique book bench, this furniture is specialized for book lovers.

Concealed bookshelf. This silver book shelf mounts on to the wall, then the books stack on top of it. The effect is stunning and the price is right.
Reading table . Use this at your bedside or at a comfy chair for the ultimate in book reading comfort.
Massage chair. These chairs take relaxing with a good book to a whole new level.
Massaging bed rest. This gift takes the pillow to a whole new level with ultra support, a light, a cup holder, and a massage.
Lap desk. Another solution for reading in bed, a lap desk props the book up just right.
Desk lamp. If your reader enjoys books at a desk, then a desk lamp is a great gift.
Bookshelves. Every reader can use more space for books, so consider bookshelves for your next gift.
Faux bookshelves. Whether your book lover wants to add decoration to a bland wall or want to hide a secret doorway, these faux book shelves are a truly unique gift.
Globe. While this isn’t directly related to books, can you really imagine a library without a globe? If you are feeling more practical, then take a look at these globe bookends.
Stack of Books Bench. This signed, limited edition bronze bench that looks like a stack of books doesn’t even have a price given on the website, but it would truly be an original gift.
Big Cozy Books. Designed for libraries, these giant books make great furniture for a reading room anywhere.

Coffee Table Books

These books are visually stunning and open up worlds beyond the ordinary.

The Polaroid Book: Selections from the Polaroid Collections of Photography. This book features some outstanding polaroid photographs sure to please anyone with an eye for beauty.
American Photobooth. Learn the fascinating history of the photobooth and see endearing photographs taken from these DIY photo shoots from across the years.
Graffiti World: Street Art from Five Continents. Take a look at the work of the very best street artists from around the world in this stunning book.
Walker Evans: Signs. A human story can be told powerfully through the signs posted, and Evans captured the story and history in his work.
Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art. This thought-provoking book may challenge your ideas of underground art.
A Photographer’s Life. Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz published this book as a memoir of her life as a photographer and includes both personal photos and photos from assignments.
Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs. The photographs from the National Geographic have long been held as some of the most breathtaking. Get 250 of the best ever in this book.
In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits. Another National Geographic book, this one specifically features portraits with some of the most famous, including the "Afghan Girl" with the piercing eyes.
Anonymous: Enigmatic Images from Unknown Photographers. These striking photographs are all taken by anonymous people and capture the imagination.
Found Lives: A Collection of Found Photographs. Similar to Anonymous, this book is also filled with pictures from unknown photographers that capture moments of everyday life.

Cook Books and Food Books

These books are great options for the book lover who also enjoys food.

The Book Lover’s Cook Book. The perfect book for book lovers who also love to cook, these recipes are inspired by famous works of literature such as tamales from Like Water for Chocolate and blueberry pie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Roadfood Sandwiches. Get recipes for some of the best sandwiches in restaurants across the US in this book.
Good Eats: The Early Years. Get recipes from some of the earliest shows from Alton Brown’s popular food science and cooking show, Good Eats.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This famous book by Julia Child has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity recently and is always an excellent gift for the cook who also treasures a good book.
Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. Alice Water’s distinctive style shaped cuisine across the country, and this book shares some of her secrets from her Chez Panisse Cafe.
Kitchen Confidential. Anthony Bourdain’s best-selling book provides a whole new look at restaurants that will leave you laughing and reconsidering your next meal out at the same time.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma. This widely-read book has been at the heart of discussions and controversy since its publication.
What to Drink with What You Eat. This is the ultimate guide to understand how to match the beverage of your choice with food, including wine, beer, coffee, and more.
The Little Black Journal of Wine: A Wine Lover’s Record Keeper. If your book lover also enjoys wine, this is the perfect combination, allowing him to jot down tasting notes in an elegant journal that can go anywhere.
Cook book holder. A cook book holder not only keeps the book open to the right page, but props the book up for easier viewing.

Classics Reprinted

These classics have been reprinted to feel more like the original.

Penguin Hardcover Classics. With titles including Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, and Wuthering Heights, these books are not only visually stunning, they are guaranteed to please.
Little Women. This reprinted edition includes much of the original diction that was edited out of the dialog as well as a beautiful illustrated cover.

Clothing and Jewelry

While t-shirts are represented here, so are purses made from books, cuff links, and banned book bracelets.

T-shirts. There are many places to find literary-themed t-shirts for men and women. Here are some, also check out Cafe Press or Literary Rags.
Sleep shirt. If your book lover likes sleep shirts, then she may go for this one.
Baseball cap. Keep the sun off your mystery-lover’s head with this "M is for Mystery" baseball cap.
Book purses. These purses are made from recycled books.
Sherlock Holmes cap. Does your book lover like to dress up? Then he may like this Sherlock Holmes cap. Now all you need is the pipe.
Bookworm charm. This little bookworm charm will look good on a necklace or bracelet for your book lover.
Cuff links. For those men in your life who love reading and dressing with style, these silver book cuff links are a one-of-a-kind gift.
Book locket. A silver book that is really a locket, this necklace is not only pretty, but made in Thailand and is part of the Fair Trade movement.
Banned books bracelet. Does your book lover have a social conscience too? She might like the banned book bracelet as a way to show both her love of books and free speech. Don’t like the bracelet? Try the necklace.
Ralph Waldo Emerson bracelet. This classic silver band with a quote from Emerson makes a great gift for a man or woman book lover.

Paper Goods

From note cards to journals, these paper goods make excellent gifts for just about any book lover.

Calendars. Calendars are available for the wall, desktop, and more.
Prints and posters. Help your book lover decorate in literary style with prints or posters.
Postcards. Postcards make a great stocking stuffer for your book lover and come in many designs.
Note cards.Note cards are a simple yet elegant gift that never go out of style.
Bookplates. Personalized bookplates are a great way for book lovers to label their books and are available many places online for you to personalize as a gift.
Journals. For jotting down notes, making lists of books, or just writing her thoughts, many book lovers enjoy getting blank journals. Most bookstores offer them across a wide variety of styles and price ranges.
Bumperstickers. If your book lover drives a car, let him show off his passion for books with a bumpersticker.
Post-it Notes. These make great stocking stuffers for readers. They can be used as book marks and also serve as a great place for the reader to keep notes is she doesn’t want to write in her book.

Gift Sites Inspired by Specific Writers

See if your book lover’s favorite author is listed below to find entire gift sites devoted to one writer.

Mark Twain. Get books and ornaments all inspired by this classic American writer.
Harriet Beecher Stowe. This online store from the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center should be online any day now to offer handcrafted items, jewelry, and more.
Flannery O’Connor. From the O’Connor Perpetual Calendar to bumperstickers to peacock feathers from the birds this writer loved so much, this and more is available from the Andalusia website.
Jane Austen. This site offers quite a selection of Jane Austen goods as well as books and movies made from her books.
Edgar Allan Poe. The Poe museum offers spooky t-shirts, a commemorative stamp, Poe dolls and figures, and much more.
Dr. Seuss. Find everything from cards to clothing to collector’s items at this site devoted to those who love the work of Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Maurice Sendak. The Rosenbach Museum is the only authorized source for many Sendak items, including signed books and prints, unsigned books, and toys.

Rare Books

If your book lover collects rare books, check out these sites that provide listings of the rare books they have to offer in order to find just the book or author you are seeking.

Bauman Rare Books. Bauman offers books in a variety of categories from literature to photography to children’s books.
Powell’s Books Rare & Collectible. This famous bookseller in Portland offers a wide range of rare and collectible books here.
Alibris Rare & Collectible. Search through signed books, first editions, collectibles, and truly rare books or just search by title.
AbeBooks Directory of Rare & Antiquarian Booksellers. This site has a listing of rare book sellers from around the world and links to search and browse at each.
Bookworks. From Chicago, this online bookstore specializes in used and rare books.
12th Street Books. Find used, rare, and out-of-print books from this shop located on 12th Street in Austin, TX, but offering their books online as well.
MacDonnell Rare Books. This bookseller has over 30 years in the rare book field and is a member of several respected rare book associations.

100 Great Videos to Learn About Food Science

Posted by Site Administrator on December 2, 2009 - No Comments

If you’re in culinary school or just like learning all you can about science and science experiments, you’re probably just as interested in the science behind food as much as you are the taste and presentation of it. These 100 videos are all about the various sciences of food, including food production, biology, molecular gastronomy, kitchen chemistry, food experiments and food physics. You’ll learn about nutrition, sustainability, food reactions, food processes and more from the interviews, lectures and experiments in the lists below.

General

Get an introduction to the food science industry, including available academic programs and various job descriptions.

What is Food Science?: This video introduces you to food technologists and different aspects of food science.
Food Science: Why it Works: Kevin Ryan, PhD walks you through the basics of food science.
Food Science: Find out how a degree in food science can prepare you for a lucrative, stable career.
Farm to Pharma: The Rise and Rise of Food Science: Watch this video to understand the history of British food science.
Agricultural and Food Science Technicians: Learn about this career path for scientists.
Jobs in foods science and agriculture: Here is another video that explains what biological food technicians and other food scientists do.
How do they do it: Space Food: Learn how food is packaged, prepared and eaten in space.
The Science of Good Food: Learn why good food is a science as well as an art.
How is Food Researched: Food research combines customer behavior and food trends.
Steven and Chris: Food SCience: Part cooking show, part science lesson, this video explains why whisking eggs in copper bowl is best (plus other secrets).

Kitchen Chemistry

These videos address chemical properties of food and demonstrate what happens when you conduct science experiments in your kitchen.

Learn about the origin of Teflon: Find out how Teflon was first created and how it’s used with food science.
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream: Find out how liquid nitrogen can add to your understanding (and taste) of good food.
Sodium on water: Watch what happens in this chemistry experiment.
Fehling’s Test for Reducing Sugars: You’ll learn about potassium hydroxide, potassium sodium tartrate and glucose in this experiment.
Make Instant Hot Ice using Sodium Acetate: Did you know there was a such thing as hot ice? Learn how to make it in this video.
Dehydration of sugar: This experiment uses sulfuric acid to dehydrate sugar.
Learn about the Maillard reaction: The Maillard reaction — a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar — is demonstrated here.
Tests for Vitamin C: "Sleuth out sources of vitamin C" when you watch this video.
Make Europium and Dysprosium Nitrate salts: This is a pretty geek-tastic video, but you will learn how to make europium and dysprosium nitrate salts.
Science in the Kitchen at MIT: MIT science students bake their way to a better understanding of chemistry.
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Kitchen Chemistry: Bill Nye dresses up as "Vivian Cupcake" to make chocolate cake and discuss chemicals.
Kitchen Chemistry Science Lesson: This professor tries to make kitchen chemistry fun.

Food Safety

Food safety is another subject in food science, and in these videos, you’ll learn about foodborne illnesses, contamination, packaging and more.

The Evolving Science of Food Safety: Listen to a food toxicologist discuss pesticides and contaminants.
Food Safety: It’s Up to You: Learn about foodborne illnesses here.
Food Science: Blowtorch: Learn when using a blowtorch in the kitchen is actually a good idea, and how to use it safely.
Food Safety is in Your Hands: This video discusses hand washing and appropriate food servers.
Protecting Food During Transportation: Find out how foods are prepared for transport so that they arrive fresh.
Food Vulnerability Assessments: Discover environments and germs that can contaminate food products.
Microbes Medley: This cartoon offers a humorous look at cross contamination and microbes.
Illegally Imported and Smuggled Food Products: This video tackles intentionally contaminated food products and food safety.
Food safety basics: Learn how to avoid food poisoning in this video.
Packaging for Food Safety: Food packaging and packaging systems are designed to keep food fresh and safe.

Nutrition and Food Properties

From chocolate to soda to Cheetos and milk, these videos discuss food properties and nutrition.

Hot and Spicy: Find out why hot spices and foods taste better when cooked.
Chocolate: Learn about the properties of chocolate here.
How much sugar is in a can of soda: You’ll understand why health experts believe regular soda leads to obesity.
Hot Cheetos and Milk: These kids conduct an experiment to find out why milk is the best drink for killing spice.
Breakfast: Do you know what’s really found in your cereal? Watch this video to find out.
Learn about the science of fudge: If you love fudge, you’ll enjoy learning about all of its properties here.
How to add Iron to Your Breakfast: You’ll learn about nutrition and vitamins and minerals in this video.
Super Organic Health Care: Watch this video to find out why alfalfa is used to treat high cholesterol.
7 Nutrition Fundamentals for Losing Fat: Discover how these nutrients work to burn fat.
Health Nutrition Science: Learn all about calorie restriction here.
Diabetes Mellitus: This video explains Type 2 diabetes, glucose, insulin and food’s effect on your health.
Nutrition facts labels, how to read, FAQ: Watch this video to learn how to read and digest nutrition labels.
Integrative Nutrition: Learn about holistic health and integrative nutrition in this video.
Nutrition and Your Mental Health: This video explains how foods impact fatigue, mental health and mood.
Eat low on the food chain: Consider avoiding estrogenic foods by eating low on the food chain.
Obesity and Nutrition: Charlie Rose interviews experts who discuss nutrition, brain messages and obesity.
What are nutrients?: Here you’ll learn that nutrients contribute to tissue repair and more.
Nutrition: Chemical Digestion: Discover how the body transforms food into energy through the process of digestion.
Minerals’ Basic Functions: Learn the difference between vitamins and minerals.
Introduction to Human Nutrition: Carbohydrates, nutrient needs, digestion, lipids, proteins and other topics are covered in this webcast.
What is Fiber: Natalie shares all sorts of facts about fiber and why it’s important.
The Big Bread Lie: Learn about the properties of different types of bread.
Nutrition and Vitamins: Carbohydrate Diet Plans: This video discusses good carbs vs. bad carbs and understanding how carbohydrates affect your body and appetite.

Agriculture and Sustainability

From raw food to organic farming to more sustainable agriculture methods, learn more about the science of growing and harvesting food here.

Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture: Check out this old school video about choosing to grow food without pesticides.
Future Farming Now: Learn about the future of the agriculture industry and the distinct absence of fertilizers.
Sustainable Agriculture: Curing America’s Eating Disorder: Learn why eating locally and organically is important.
Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture: Rotational Grazing: Here you’ll learn about rotational grazing and how it leads to more sustainable farming.
The Raw Food Movement – The Concept: Get an overview of raw food preparation, culture and history.
Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us: This news report on organic farming pursues the idea that organic farms yield as much as conventional farming.
Genetically Modified Issues: You’ll find out where GMOs, or "stealth ingredients" are found in foods.
Food Production and Population Growth: Discover how food production directly leads to population growth.

Tools, Technology and Supplies

These videos discuss kitchen gadgets and technology, from microwaves to chef robots.

Fun with Shining Silver: Watch this video to learn a shortcut for shining silver, and why it works.
About Microwaves: Find out why wet food cooks better than dry food in a microwave.
How to use an infrared thermometer: After watching this video, you may want to switch to an infrared thermometer.
The Future of Technology for Food Retailers and Distributors: This promotional video shares interesting images of food transport and distribution.
Food Technology: This food technology video focuses on kitchen design.
Robot Chef: Watch footage of the new robot chefs coming out of Japan’s Food Machinery and Technology Expo.

Molecular Gastronomy

Molecular gastronomy refers to the physical and chemical processes that foods go through during cooking. From fermentation to leavening to barrel aging, you’ll learn how food becomes edible.

Leavening: This video teaches you all about the process of leavening.
Protein Denaturation: Learn about this important process that takes place during cooking.
Fermentation: Watch this video to learn about the fermenting process.
Molecular Gastronomy: Where Food Meets Science: Get an introduction to the study of molecular gastronomy here.
Basic spherification: This video demonstrates basic spherification.
Microwaving Eggs: Have you ever tried to microwave eggs? If you’re short on time, you should try it.
Learn about the Effect of Barrel Aging on Whiskey: Watch this video to find out how whiskey ages.
On Molecular Gastronomy and Cocktails: Find out how molecular gastronomy principles apply to bartending.
FoodMojo: Molecular Gastronomy: Where Food Meets Science: Liquid nitrogen is used for a recipe for "virtual chocolate cake."

Experiments

Watch taped experiments involving eggs, Saltine crackers and more.

How to make "bouncy egg": With vinegar and water you can make a bouncy egg.
Dr. Food Science: Though he’s not a total expert, Dr. Food Science debunks food myths involving Saltine crackers and other popular products.
Our mentos, coke and organic tomato experiment: This famous experiment gets a tomato twist.
Used Cooking Oil as a Car Fuel: The Myth Busters guys try using cooking oil as car fuel.
Like a Laser Through Butter: This video tracks different experiments with cutting butter.
Cooking Egg with Alcohol: Will an egg cook properly if you use alcohol?
Egg and Bacon Ice Cream: Chef Heston Blumenthal makes his most controversial dessert.
Green Egg Trick: This experiment uses cabbage juice to dye an egg.

Biology

Learn about biological processes like osmosis and more.

Osmosis in the kitchen: You’ll learn how to rehydrate a wilted piece of lettuce in this video.
Food Vacuole Formation: The Role of the Lysosome: This easy-to-follow lecture covers the making of protein.
Productivity and Food Webs: Professor Penny Chisolm discusses evolution, food webs and natural exploitation.
Biology animation food chain: Watch this simple animated video to get a clear understanding of the food chain.

Food Physics

From fluids to heat, here are videos all about food physics.

Fluids: Learn about viscosity, force and more.
Energy in Food: Watch this video to understand how energy is released from food.
Amano Chocolate: This physics professor makes some of the best chocolate around. Find out why.
Atoms and Heat II: This physics lecture from UC Berkeley explains what happens to atoms when heated.
The Science of Pizza (Specific Heat): Find out why cheese on heated-up pizza can burn you when the rest of the slice is just right.

Miscellaneous

For even more great videos that can teach you about food science, check here.

How do they do it? How is orange juice made?: You’ll learn how OJ is grown and harvested.
Aging, Health and Diversity: Watch these webcasts to understand nutrient needs of the elderly.
Fun facts about yeast: Watch this video to learn all about the amazing properties of yeast.
Drinking tea with chopsticks in microgravity: Astronauts can drink tea in space using chopsticks.
Why do you need salt to make ice cream?: Learn how to make ice cream — and why you need salt to do it — when you watch this video.

100 Ethics Blogs Every Business Student Should Read

Posted by Site Administrator on November 30, 2009 - No Comments

If you think you’re going to get a serious understanding of ethics just from taking a couple of b-law courses, you’re mistaken. Entrepreneurs, managers and ambitious business professionals need to master all kinds of subjects relating to ethics, including ethics theory, philosophy, human nature, group behavior, moral psychology, leadership and more. These 100 ethics blogs will introduce you to all kinds of ethics discussions and debates.

Ethics Theory and Philosophy

Business students who are also passionate about philosophy and the theories of ethics will want to check out these blogs to gain a deeper understanding of human behavior, the law and the nature of good vs. evil.

Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: This popular philosophy blog comments on academia and intellectual culture.
Bosphorous Reflections: Barry Stocker’s Weblog: Barry Stocker’s blog tackles some heavy issues and philosophers, from Foucault to Aristotle.
The Brooks Blog: Thom Brooks is a a political and legal philosopher at the University of Newcastle who focuses on American and British law, ethics, and crime and punishment.
PEA Soup: PEA stands for philosophy, ethics and academia.
Ethical Werewolf: You’ll get posts that reference classic and modern philosophers as well as commentary on politics.
Ethics Etc: Head to this blog for discussion about contemporary ethics and philosophy.
Experimental Philosophy: This blog comments on major business and economy stories as well as the world of philosophy.
Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog: Writers and philosophers address issues relating to gender and race.
Unideal Observers: A graduate student from Bowling Green State University blogs about ethical theories, reason, and more.
Public Reason: Those interested in political philosophy and ethics on a grand scale will want to follow this blog.
The Garden of Forking Paths: Read this blog for posts about Agency Theory, including ethics, moral psychology and more.
Think Tonk: Recent posts on Clayton Littlejohn’s blog cover justifications and apologies, politics, death, and judgment.

Business and Law

Learn about business accountability, copyright, entrepreneurship, international business law, and more.

The Business Law Blog: Topics covered here include entrepreneurship, small business break-ups, and more.
The Conglomerate: You’ll find posts about business, law, the economy and society on The Conglomerate.
Law Blog – WSJ: The WSJ’s law blog focuses on business cases.
China Law Blog: The China Law Blog covers Chinese b-law.
Technology and Business Law: Sujatha Ganesan is a business and tech lawyer in the Silicon Valley and writes about copyright, b-law in India, and more.
Business Law: Hanna Hasl-Kelchner blogs about b-law for AllBusiness.com.
ContractsProf Blog: Learn all about contracts law when you follow this law professor blog.
Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars: Learn all about copyright law and business here.
Legal Ethics Forum: Topics here include terrorists’ rights, Ponzi schemes and more.
Sentencing Law and Policy: This popular blog is written by law professors and considers legal ethics, the Constitution, and crime and punishment.

Watchdog Blogs

These watchdog blogs and investigative blogs track government policies, ethics scandals, unethical spending, and sketchy business and politics.

Balkinization: Balkinization calls out world leaders, government policies, and entire societies as it considers the state of the world and where we’re headed.
Talking Points Memo: TPM is known for investigative journalism and uncovering ethical and controversial issues in business and politics.
Above the Law: If you want to know which big law firms are in trouble or what they’re paying their associates, follow this blog.
theWatchdogBlog.org: Public Citizen’s Congress Watch publishes this blog that tracks spending in government.
Watchdog: Newsday has a watchdog blog here.
NiemanWatchdog: The Nieman Foundation at Harvard University asks the questions it thinks "the press should ask."
Consumer Watchdog: This blog stands up for consumers and follows business investigations and more.
Texas Watchdog: Time Magazine remarked that this blog pursues "feisty investigations."
Tax Watchdog: The Detroit News’ blog calls out big tax scandals and legislation.

News

Keep up with the latest ethics cases, research findings and more by following the blogs in this list.

Practical Ethics: Get updated commentary and news stories from the ethics discussions around the world.
The Becker-Posner Blog: Gary Becker and Richard Posner post intelligent, detailed commentaries about the future of society and the economy, as dictated by the leaders of today.
Public Ethics Radio: Listen to reports about war theory, property rights, terrorism, health care, torture and more.
ACS Blog: The American Constitution Society blogs about criminal justice, democracy, voting, liberty and equality, and the First Amendment.
Althouse: Ann Althouse points out all the politically incorrect and ironic news stories of the day.
Times Topics: Ethics: Track stories about all kinds of ethics theories, laws and issues here.
Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: PBS’ blogs cover ethics issues in religion, culture, art, literature, politics, war and more.
Chicago Tribune Ethics: The Chicago Tribune archives all of its stories about ethics here.
ScienceDaily Ethics News: Browse videos, articles and blogs from the ethics pages at ScienceDaily here.
Code Words: The Society of Professional Journalists talks ethics here.
Ethics in the News: The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington track legal and ethics cases on their blog.
Ethical Issues in the News: Ethical topics here include migration, health care coverage, and headscarves.

Morality and Psychology

You’ll learn more about how people make decisions, what motivates people, and the basics of psychology from these blogs.

PoliPsych.com Blog: Study drug laws, moral confabulation, moral foundations and more when you follow PoliPsych.
Edge: Edge brings together brilliant minds to discuss human nature, passions, anthropology, society and psychology.
The Splintered Mind: Follow this blog for "reflections in philosophy of psychology," from Eric Schwitzgebel, philosophy professor at UC Riverside.
Mind Hacks: Writer Tom Stafford tries to find out what’s going on in your brain.
Cognitive Daily: Recent posts here include "What your Facebook page says about you" and "Men often treat their friends better than women do."
Neuromarketing: If you want to know which kinds of people make the best sales team or how to address failure, read this blog.
Channel N: If you want to learn more about human behavior, watch the videos on Channel N.
Psychology Today blogs: If you want to understand the way people think, act and judge in today’s society, read these blogs.
We’re Only Human: Wray Herbert’s blog addresses everyday choices and psychology issues.
Psyblog: Psyblog is a good reference for anyone wanting an accessible means of understanding the latest psychology and ethics research.
World of Psychology: Learn all about depression, anxiety and other psychological disorders that you may encounter in the business world.
The Situationist: This social psychology blog tackles human behavior.

Economics

Study economics ethics here.

EconLog: The Library of Economics and Liberty blogs here.
Economic Logic: This blog tries to prove that "there is economics in everything."
Mises Economics Blog: This economics blog deconstructs the (projected) value of money, wealth and a free market.
Economics and Ethics: Study economic theory, practice and policy here.
Economics One: John B. Taylor’s blog considers government, economic risk, economic policy, jobs, failure and ethics.

Corporate Ethics and Crime

From white collar crime to corporate social responsibility, these blogs cover the good and bad of corporate ethics.

Crane and Matten Blog: The Crane Matten Blog addresses corporate social responsibility and business ethics.
White Collar Crime Prof Blog: Professors from Stetson University College of Law discuss white collar crime.
Talk Left: the politics of crime: This leftist blog reports on virtually everything, especially game playing in Washington and courtrooms.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship

If you intend to be a leader or manager, you’ll need to make sound ethical decisions in all aspects of business, from HR to marketing to customer service to finance.

OpenBusiness: If you want to know more about open business culture, head to this blog to make sure you’re doing everything right.
The Practice of Leadership: Learn how to influence the world through your own leadership.
Leadership is a Verb: Here you should find inspiration to be a leader and mentor who values diversity.
The Ethical Optimist: This blog favors "public relations with a conscience" and can be a good model for your own company.
Work Matters: Learn how to be accountable, fair, productive and considerate.
Great Leadership: Dan McCarthy shares leadership tips for decision-making, motivating and more.
Servant Leadership Blog: This blog considers real leadership to come from serving others.
Leadership at Work: John Baldoni blogs for Harvard Business Publishing here. Recent posts include "Use Humility to Improve Performance" and "Three Questions to Remove Ego from Decision Making."

Environmental Ethics

If you think that sustainability and environmental ethics don’t relate to you and your future career in business, you’re dead wrong. Read these blogs to promote green business, learn about new environmental laws and guidelines, and attract customers at the same time.

Cruel Mistress: Learn about the issues impacting the environment, from businesses, societies and individuals.
The Intersection: Discover Magazine’s blog discusses the intersection between humans and the environment.
GreenBiz.com: This is a terrific resource for studying how the environment and environmental issues affect business practices today.
FabianPattberg.com: Follow Fabian’s blog to learn about corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Strategy for Sustainability: Learn how to make a business more sustainable even during "turbulent times."
Marc Gunther: Marc Gunther is a writer, speaker and consultant on business and sustainability.
Grist: Grist shares environmental news, legislation, trends and business issues.
Walk Softly Blog: This blog shares tips for small businesses who want to adopt sustainable practices.
Green Inc.: The NYT’s Green Inc. follows energy and green business.
The Good Human: You’ll find tips for making any office more eco-friendly here.

Technology

As technology continues to dominate many of the ways in which we do business today, you’ll want to understand tech laws, ethics cases, privacy issues, and more.

Deeplinks: Get news roundups, Internet crime, bloggers’ rights and terms of abuse stories here.
hearsay culture: This blog from the Stanford University radio show considers the relationship between modern technology, Internet issues and society.
Concurring Opinions: If you want to learn more about tech law, head to this blog.
Madisonian.net: Madisonian.net is another law, tech and society blog written by professors from top law schools around the country.
Public Knowledge: This public interest blog shares information about your rights and the laws surrounding digital culture.
Technology and Marketing Law by Eric Goldman: Follow this blog when you’re studying about Internet marketing and branding.

Society

Continue to study human behavior, human relationships and anthropology when you check out these blogs.

Philosophy Talk: The Blog: This postmodern philosophy blog considers how we all relate to one another.
International Cognition and Culture Institute Blog: From evolution to the way we grieve, this blog studies human and animal nature.
anthropologi.info: As you study news from the anthropology world, you’ll learn a lot about civilization’s ethical history too.
Culture Matters: Culture Matters is another anthropology blog and considers how the field is used to study society.
Savage Minds: Recent posts on this anthropology and psychology blog covered Fort Hood, ethical gossip, and moral obligation.
Religion, Philosophy and Ethics Course: All readers are invited to join in the discussion led by students at the University of Gloucestershire.

Miscellaneous

You’ll find blogs relating to biomedical and science ethics, philosophy and religion, and more in this list.

In Living Color: Animal ethics, ethics news, philosophy and religion are all discussed on this smart blog.
Bioethics: If you want to enter into a health sciences or biological field, you’ll want to read this blog.
Crooked Timber: Crooked Timber explores the issues and human errors that make us the imperfect specimens we are, from politics to economics to social justice.
The Research Ethics Blog: This ethics blog follows human research subjects.
Walking on the Theoretical Side of Life: This blog covers a range of topics, including the relationships between aesthetics and ethics and between the classical and modern worlds.
Neuroethics and Law Blog: Study "legal and ethical issues related to the mind and brain" here.
Brain Ethics: Study health care and science ethics at Brain Ethics.

100 Best Twitter Feeds for College Football Fanatics

Posted by Site Administrator on November 24, 2009 - No Comments

If you just can’t get enough college football, you don’t have to wait for game day to roll around to read articles, find out the latest rumors and make your picks for your fantasy football teams. Here are 100 Twitter feeds that will make it easy to follow your favorite teams and ensure you have the inside scoop on everything college football related.

News

Check out these feeds to learn about the latest news in college football.

@CollegeFootball: Check with this feed regularly to get the latest NCAA football news.
@CollegeF00tball: Read interesting stories about college football through the links in this feed.
@College_FB: Here you’ll find tweets from the College Football Observer.
@Lv_NCAA_FOOTBLL: The news from this feed will help to keep you in the loop.
@CollegeFB__News: This news feed focuses on information about the players.
@si_ncaafb: Get your college football news through Sports Illustrated with this feed.
@cfbhighlights: Learn about some of the biggest and best highlights of this week’s games through this feed.
@College_Sports: Start following this feed to read updates about your college team.
@footballncaa: This feed will ensure that you never miss an important story on college football.
@CFTalk: Chat it up about college football through this feed and accompanying website.
@CFBHeadlineNews: Whether you play fantasy football or just want to follow your favorite teams, this feed will make sure you know what’s going on.
@AP_Top25: This feed is full of updates about the top 25 college football games each season.
@Big12SportsNow: Check out this feed to keep up with all of the Big 12 teams.
@TheACCFootball: Find out what’s going on with the ACC in this feed.

Football and More

These feeds offer some great football news but also cover other college or professional sports.

@NCAADoubleAZone: This is the official feed of the NCAA, and you’ll find stories on everything college sports related.
@NCAA: Keep up with what’s going on in college football, basketball and more through this feed.
@InsidetheNCAA: Find inside information on college sports through this feed.
@ncaablotter: Read about everything NCAA here, from baseball to hockey to, of course, football.
@SportsJabber: This feed will help you keep up with news on all kinds of college sports.

ESPN

If you like to get your sports coverage from ESPN then try out one of their many college football feeds.

@ESPN_SEC: Check with this feed for updates about the teams in the SEC from ESPN reporter Chris Low.
@ESPN_BigTen: Here, Adam Rittenberg writes about all the latest news on the Big Ten teams.
@ESPN_BigEast: East coasters can find all the important college football info they need from writer Brian Bennett here.
@ESPN_Big12: Follow this feed from Tim Griffin to make sure you know what’s going on with the Big 12.
@ESPN_ACC: Fans of ACC teams will appreciate the posts on this feed by reporter Heather Dinich.
@ESPN_Pac10: The West coast shouldn’t feel left out as this feed offers frequent updates on the Pacific 10 teams from Ted Miller.
@ESPN_Others: If your favorite teams don’t fall into any of these categories, not to worry, ESPN has you covered with this feed.
@schadjoe: Read tweets by Joe Schad, ESPN’s National College Football Reporter, on this feed.
@espn4d: Get ESPN reporter insights from ESPN columnist Pat Forde here.
@cbfowler: Check out this feed to read college football posts by ESPN host and commentator Chris Fowler.

Stats and Scores

Use these feeds to find out schedules, scores and player information.

@ncaafscores: Stay up-to-date on football scores by following this feed.
@ncaastats: Keep up with how your favorite team is stacking up with this stats-filled feed.
@ncaa_palace: This feed will let you know when and where your favorite teams are playing.
@NCAAFootball: Here you’ll find scores for all the latest games.
@StatSheet: Check with this feed to find out fun new ways to visualize sports stats.

Commentary

Get a fresh take on the games you love to watch with these commentary-filled feeds.

@cftailgate: Visit this site for football news, blog information, and general discussion.
@BCSisBS: This fan has strong opinions about which teams rule and which, not so much.
@RootZooNCAAF: Try following this feed for news, rumors and football analysis.
@NCAAGridironGab: Check out this feed not only for news but commentary, predictions and tasty tidbits as well.
@DailyTailgate: This daily sports newsletter will help ensure you stay informed about all things college football.
@fanblogs: Find tips, news and more on this football fan feed.
@GameDayFootball: Here you’ll find tips on fantasy football, news, and helpful commentary.
@MattZemek_CFN: Learn more about college football from this columnist at CollegeFootballNews.
@DrSaturday: Matt Hinton writes Yahoo’s college football blog called Dr. Saturday and you can find his commentary here.
@MrCFB: Get updates on college sports from broadcaster and writer Tony Barnhart here.
@slmandel: This writer for Sports Illustrated shares his thoughts on college football through this feed.
@davidpollack47: Learn about former college player David Pollack’s take on college sports here.

Fan Feeds

Check out these feeds from true college football fans.

@CFCafeteria: This twitterer loves college football (with the exception of the BCS) and tweets about it here.
@NCAAFanHouse: Join these fans in talking about the teams they love the most on this feed.
@Kyle_Fisher115: This feed is home to posts about football, life and more.
@OverThePylon: If you want to keep up with a fan of Ball State football, follow this feed.
@bcondotta: This feed will help you learn what’s going on with the Washington Husky football program as well as other West Coast teams.
@JeffCaves: Check up with this site to find out about Idaho sports, including football.
@40AcresSports: This Texas Longhorns fan feed will help you learn everything you need to know about the team.
@footballfringe: Follow this feed to learn about all the goings-on in college football.

Teams

If you want team specific coverage try one of these feeds. If you don’t see your team, don’t worry, nearly every team has a feed and they just couldn’t all be included on one list.

@OhioStFootball: Those who love Ohio State will love the team support on this feed.
@BlockONation: Here you’ll find fan posts on OSU.
@oklafootball: Supporters of the Sooners will find team information and more on this feed.
@MSUFootball: Check with this feed for information about the Michigan State Spartans.
@beckerjerry: Here, fan Jerry Becker supports his favorite team, the Tennessee Volunteers.
@MUTigersdotcom: Follow Mizzou athletics on this sports-focused feed that’s not just limited to football.
@UWBadgersdotcom: On this feed you’ll find official news from UW Athletics, including football.
@BurntOrangePost: This feed is supposedly maintained by the Texas Longhorn’s mascot.
@USC_Trojans: Get into the spirit of supporting the USC teams by following this feed.
@TCU: Find information on the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs through this Twitter feed.
@TheIowaHawkeyes: With no professional sports teams in the state, this college team inspires some fervent followers that you can find here.
@Spartan_FB: Spartan fans should make sure to follow this feed that provides loads of team information.
@ECUAthletics: Get up-to-speed on what’s going on with the ECU Pirates here.
@Aggie_Athletics: With tweets on football and more, this site is a great place for true Aggie fans.
@michigan_fball: Here you can find information about this heavy-hitting football team.
@kywildcats: This feed is the unofficial way to keep up with all the sports happenings of the Kentucky Wildcats.
@VolNation: Tennessee Volunteers fans should check back with this feed regularly to get the latest news.
@HuskersGameday: This feed is a great place to get Nebraska Cornhuskers football coverage.

Coaches

Get into the mind of your favorite college football coach through these Twitter feeds.

@Play4brew: Follow this feed to learn about the moves of Minnesota Gophers Football Coach Tim Brewster.
@RonZook: If you like U of I football, you can follow the head coach’s tweets here.
@UM_CoachRod: Here you’ll find the feed of Michigan Wolverines Football Coach Rich Rodriguez.
@JayPaterno: Penn State University’s assistant football coach tweets here.
@BretBielema: If you’re a Badgers fan, make sure to follow this coach’s feed.
@BoPelini: Check out this feed for information straight from Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Coach Bo Pelini.
@mizzoufootball: Get into the Tiger spirit with this feed from head coach Gary Pinkel.
@CoachSherman: Aggie fans can find updates about their team on this Texas A&M Aggies coach feed.
@CoachSnyder: Marshall University Thundering Herd Football Coach Mark Snyder posts tweets here.
@NDHFC: If you want to learn more about what the Notre Dame team is up to, check out this feed from coach Charlie Weis.
@CoachUrbanMeyer: Florida Gators Football Coach Urban Meyer posts his thoughts here.
@LSUCoachMiles: Learn more about LSU Tigers Football Coach Les Miles here.
@LaneKiffinUT: Try this feed for information on the Tennessee Volunteers.
@rollwiththetide: All of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches post here.
@MarkRicht: Georgia Bulldogs Football Coach Mark Richt uses this feed to share information about the team.

Fantasy Football

If you like to play fantasy football on the college level, then these feeds can be a great way to keep yourself in the loop and make sure you do well each week.

@MyFantasyLeague: Check out this feed to learn more about this website and the moves you should be making to ensure fantasy victory.
@CFFInsider: Make sure you’re in the know when it comes to fantasy football by following this feed.
@CFBRumorCentral: Learn rumors about who will play and who won’t, gameplans, recruits and more here.
@fyifootballplay:If you’re worried that some of your starters might not play because of injuries, check with this feed to find out for sure.
@vincemullins: Follow this feed from the founder and Fantasy College Football Analyst at Fantasy College Blitz.
@FF_Today: This feed offers both professional and college fantasy football content.
@BrianCFFInsider: This writer from CFFInsider maintains this fun feed.
@philsteele042: Get some big tips from Phil of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview.
@CFootball: This feed will give you news about college football and tips about how to improve your fantasy team.

Miscellaneous

From talking about some of the best college players to ever grace the game to letting you know about new recruits, these feeds offer a range of information on football.

@collegehof: Here you can find tweets from the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.
@CH_ColFootball: This group meets up to specifically talk about and watch college football.
@FOOTBALLRECRUIT: Watch videos and read stories about the most promising college football recruits here.
@BFeldmanESPN: Check out this ESPN blog to learn more about the world of college football recruiting and more.

100 Best iPhone Apps for Students Going Green

Posted by Site Administrator on November 18, 2009 - No Comments

As a proud iPhone owner, you’re probably aware (and obsessed) with all the cool ways you can use your cell. From surfing the internet and touch-screen texting to navigating your way around cities, and oh yeah, making calls, the Apple iPhone is one of the most fascinating technological wonders of our time. But did you know it could save the world? That’s right: with the help of the following applications, your phone can provide daily tips for going green, calculate your carbon footprint, find the nearest organic market, and even help you charge your phone in a more energy-efficient manner. These awesome applications are perfect for the earth-conscious student.

Top 10

Green iPhone owners have raved for years about how great the following applications are. Based on usability, cost, and effectiveness, these t10 apps are the hands-down best.

Go Green: Displays a tip each time you launch it. Piece of pie.
Green Tips: Displays a tip at launch. Hit the refresh button for more tips.
The Green Lemur: By far the most full-featured of these three. Search, add tips to favorites, or browse by category.
Meter Read: Somewhat manual in usage (but then, no one said saving the planet would be easy), use MeterRead to log your electric meter’s reading. You can log your readings and use them to predict your electrical consumption, and thus, your upcoming bill. Try to be more efficient, and maybe the next time you check the meter, your readings will hit below the projected usage.
greenMeter: Uses the accelerometer to determine the drag and resistance of your car/driving habits in real time. There are several usage meters to monitor, though real-time MPG has been my favorite. Really helps tune your driving for better efficiencies and fewer pointless emissions.
shopgreen: By title, this doesn’t sound like it fits here, but it does. To use the app, just answer some questions about how you maintain your life. Answers that are good for the environment are tallied (like air-drying your clothes, or changing the furnace air filter), and the amount of CO2 you’ve saved is calculated. As a bonus, the CO2 savings gets you discounts at local, participating retailers for your efforts.
3rd Whale: Much like other location-aware shopping apps, 3rdWhale finds you businesses nearby (select walking, biking, or driving distances). So what makes it green? The resulting businesses are supposedly eco-friendly, allowing you to patronize those taking care of the world around us.
Yowza: Yowza presents one of the more interesting ideas of the bunch. Also location aware, it brings up coupons for retailers nearby. So not only could it save you some cash, but it’s claim is that you can use the digital coupon right on your phone’s screen, rather than printing more paper that will just get tossed out.
Green Charging: This application ensures you do not overcharge your phone.
Green Wars: Now you can take on the challenge of earning green while going green. Green Wars is a new take on the classic DOS and TI-83 game Drug/Dope Wars. This simple but enjoyable buy-low-sell-high game can also help you learn a thing or two about how you can save green by going green in your own life.

Calculating Your Carbon Footprint

Make sure you’re not walking around in clown shoes. And don’t just calculate the size of your footprint, find out ways to reduce your imact as well.

Carbon Calc: Input your driving, flying and home energy use to get a handle on your carbon footprint, then browse and purchase carbon offsets. This app doesn’t take into account public transportation, food consumption and other activities with impactful carbon footprints.
Carbon Pulse: Helps you monitor emissions from your driving habits, keep up with pledges to live more sustainably, and give you clean tech news to keep you motivated for shrinking your carbon footprint. Integrates Twitter and Facebook so you can share your successes with friends.
iCarbon: This app is perfect for calculating your carbon footprint and getting suggestions on how to reduce your impact.
Green You: Factors in transportation, housing, foods, goods and services to come up with your carbon footprint, then helps you devise and stick to a plan for reducing it. Tracks your progress over time.
G.Warming Personal Calculator: Looking at your car, home and air travel information, calculates your carbon footprint and compares it to US citizens, but can also be used to compare to other countries.

Offset Your Carbon Footprint

We aren’t all earth saints, but we can all make a difference. Whether you’re guilty of leaving your car running idle, not recycling, or keeping your computer plugged in all day, there are plenty of ways to make up for lost time.

Carbon Offset Your Phone: Part of the proceeds goes toward offsetting the carbon footprint of your iPhone. The app then gives you updated environmental news, videos and tips for reducing your carbon footprint.
Carbon Catcher: A carbon offset tool, you pay for credits and then offset your carbon-intensive activities throughout the day. Offset travel, meals and fuel, and learn about the impacts of your activities.
ShopGreen: Geared specifically towards shoppers. Calculate your carbon footprint, take steps to reduce it, and the more you reduce it, the more you earn location-specific deals at sustainable businesses.
Green Outlet: Works as a substitute for power monitor. Enter in your appliances and estimated usage, and it predicts your energy bill. It provides ideas on where you can cut back energy use by showing you which appliances are costing you the most. You can also buy carbon offsets through TerraPass.
Kilowatts Electric Meter Reader: Monitor your home’s electricity use in real time by taking precise measurements of your meter. Does not work with digital electric meters, only conventional meters since in order to take the reading, you need to time the rotation of the dial. Helps you monitor and improve energy use.
Kill-o-watts: Enter your appliance information and energy usage statistics, and Kill-O-Watts tells you how much energy your appliances are consuming and what it costs you. Choose from 120 appliances on record, or create your own specific appliance. Compare energy stats of appliances before purchasing, and get tips for curbing energy use.
GasWaterPower: Get a quick, at-a-glance look at your home energy consumption. The developers purposefully made this as simple as possible. You enter your own info for this app; it can’t read your meter.
My Usage Mobile: If you have a smart meter, this app allows you to check out your home energy and water usage data anytime, helping you better manager your carbon footprint, your resource usage, and your monthly bills.
iGuides Energy Tips: Access tons of tips for reducing energy use in your home, including heating and cooling, insulation, windows, and more.
SolarPV: Find out what solar PV system you need to be able to go off grid with your electricity. Includes system size, number of panels, amount of space, cost estimate and helps you design the perfect PV system for you.

Home Solar Power Systems

Yes, believe it or not, your phone is capable of a LOT more than you ever dreamed. Like allowing Cortexa users to control air conditioning and lights using their iPhone as a remote.

Cortexa: In conjunction with Cortexa home automation system, you can automate your home, controlling lighting, heating and cooling, etc. to minimize energy use.
Power Saver Home: Calculate how much money you can save each year by changing out your light bulbs. Provides estimated energy savings, time span for realizing a return on investment, and the lifespan of new CFL bulbs.
Green Charging: Launch the app when you start charging your phone, and it’ll notify you with sound and vibration when your battery is fully charged so that you’re sure to unplug your charger when finished.
i am green: Make changes to your phone and computer settings to conserve battery life, charge your phone less, and reduce your carbon footprint. Plus, a tree is planted when you buy the app. Take quizzes, compete on energy savings with people around the world, and get tips and notifications.
CFL Light Bulb Savings Calculator: In three quick steps, you can calculate how much money you’ll save by converting light bulbs to CFLs. You can customize the calculations to ensure it is accurate, including your location, electricity pricing, cost of purchasing bulbs and so on.
Wind Speed Converter: If you use wind chargers – handheld chargers or personal wind turbines – this could be handy. It converts wind speeds between the most common units.

Getting Around

This is where being green is the hardest. Most people drive every day, which can have a devastating impact on the world in which we live. So make a difference, and start with these:

Velo: For cities that have bike sharing programs, this app helps you immediately locate nearby bikes or free spaces to park your bike.
Bike Your Drive by REI: Using your phone’s GPS, this app calculates how much gas you saved by not driving, how many calories you burned, and carbon you saved. You can geotag photos you take along your ride, find out speeds, elevations and a lot more. In other words, your ride becomes even more interesting.
MyBikeInfo: Keep track of every part of your bike, including measurements, so finding replacement parts is a breeze. Perfect for people who take apart their bikes often for travel. Also includes a bike news RSS feed.
Path Tracker: Track your walks, including time traveled, average speed, elevation and more. Good for tracking not only walks but also hikes, runs, bike routes and so on.
AroundMe: The app quickly identifies where you are and shows you the nearest bank, hotel, movie theater, restaurant, market and so on. With nearby businesses so easy to locate, you might be more inclined to walk or bike to what’s close, rather than drive to what isn’t.
Nearby: Easily an app that can be customized for green thanks to user generated content, Nearby gives you location-based notes, photos and stories about everything close to where you are. An excellent way to explore your city and find out things you had no idea existed, but were right around the corner from you.
AirYell: Find out what businesses are around you, pin down what you’re searching for, and then access a map that traces the best route for you to take to get there.
New York Nearest Subways: Using your phone’s camera, this augmented reality app shows you exactly where the nearest subway is and helps you navigate through the underground lines. Hold your phone in front of you and start walking.
iTrans: Search train and subway stations, find schedules, access maps, and find the nearest stations with this app. iTrans has apps for several major cities, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and more.
UniBus: Based on public Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), it estimates arrival times of buses, subways and trains. Supports multiple cities across United States, Canada and Australia.

Hypermiling

If you’re going to drive, do it right. Gone are the days of gas-guzzlers and ten miles to the gallon. Start hypermiling today: all you need is your car and your iPhone.

Zipcar: If you’re a member of Zipcar, this app helps you locate and reserve a car from anywhere. View upcoming reservations, get directions to your car, and more.
AccuFuel: Instantly see how your driving habits affect your fuel efficiency so you can hypermile more effectively. Track multiple vehicles.
Traffic: Avoid traffic by retrieving the current traffic conditions and incidents in the area and overlay them on a map, or display them in a customized listing.
PrimoSpot Parking: Find places to park your bike. (And car.) Works in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Boston areas. Anything that makes parking easier so you’re not driving around spewing GHGs, or that makes cycling simpler, gets a thumbs up.
CarStat: Track all the stats of your car, from fuel consumption to mileage so that you keep your car in fuel-efficient condition.
iGas Up: An accurate collection of U.S. retail gas and diesel prices. Launch the app and see the 10 cheapest U.S. stations closest to your current location. If you’re still using a gas-powered car, this is a way to save money.
GasBag Pro: Similar to iGasUp, find cheap gas stations nearby. It’s the fully-featured version of GasBag that has no ads, a larger map, and a faster load time. It also adds the ability to track multiple cars in the logbook.
GasHog: Enter the odometer reading of your car, the amount of fuel added and the total cost every time you add fuel, and GasHog automatically calculates the fuel economy of your last tank, as well as historical averages.
CarCare: Track your gas mileage statistics and get regular reminders about car maintenance so your car stays in tip top shape for fuel efficiency.

Travel

Whether by air, train, bus, or bike, these apps provide the best tips for living green and loving the earth.

Twavel: Make green travel choices and shows how even little differences you make add up to a big footprint. Built-in social networking so you can share and get tips from other green travelers.
OffMaps: Download new maps for wherever you are onto your phone, and access them offline. Unlimited maps, for anywhere in the world. Access Wikipedia and save notes within the maps so you can create your own travel book on your phone.
hiCard: Ditch the carbon footprint of sending paper postcards while you’re traveling. The app lets you send e-cards with photos you take on your phone.
Lonely Planet Travel Guide: Save trees and forget about the paper books. Get all your Lonely Planet guides on your phone. Guides are available for all the popular destinations of the world.
Hiking Calculator: Calculate your hike’s duration, find out how much water you should pack with you, and calories burned (so you know how many organic snacks to take.)
iLocate Parks: Find information about all the parks in the area, plus directions for getting to them. Whether you’re on vacation or at home, you’ll know where green spaces are located.
DrinkingWater: The idea for this one is great for helping people ditch bottled water – find all the free drinking fountains in the historical center of Rome. We’d love to see this app expanded to more places so it’s easier to find free drinking water anywhere.
Bluewalks Walking Tours: Forget the bus tours – grab your phone and go for a guided walk. Travelers and locals guide you through tours focusing on architecture, books, movies or whatever suits your interests. You can create your own walking tour for others to enjoy as well.
TrackMyTour: Make sure everyone on your trip knows where each other is located. When you’re on a bike tour, hiking trip, walking tour or other activity, you can ping other people in your party so no one gets lost.

Nurturing Nature

From hiking and biking to identifying birds, trees, and flowers, students who care about the earth will likely love these nature-friendly iPhone apps.

Peterson Field Guide to Backyard Birds: Get to know your feathered friends. Grab this app and head outside. App comes with images, recorded bird songs and calls, quizzes, and will filter species for your geographic area, among many other features.
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Prey: Many of the same features as the Backyard Birds guide, this one focuses specifically on raptors.
Trees: Featuring 35 trees found in North America, head out into the woods and see what arboreal species you can identify.
Treeld: Specific to the UK, this app will help you identify trees native to Britain. You’re asked a series of questions about the tree to help ensure you’re identifying it correctly. It’ll tell you in percentages the likeliness that the identification is accurate.
Wildflowers: This app is probably more popular in the spring. It features 68 flower species common to North America. It’s a great way to know what you’re looking at the next time you see a flower you like.
Whale Song Project: Streams the songs of the whales in Kihei Harbor. Live whale music, on your phone – so cool. The project is dedicated to bringing awareness to whales, and app purchases help to keep the project going.

Eco News

These days, green is everywhere, even in the U.S. Congress. Don’t miss a minute of green news; let your phone keep track of everything you need to know.

GenGreenTips: Get a tip for going green on your phone, fresh each morning.
The Green Brief: Get tips for green living, and even better, get green news from leading sources sent straight to your phone. Stay current on green happenings.
Get Green: Daily tips for the green life covering a vast array of topics, from eco-friendly workplaces to low footprint Halloween decorations. Filters tips to come up during appropriate seasons and holiday events so you get relevant information for what’s happening right then.
Green Spot Lite: Get news, podcasts, editorials and more on sustainable green living. From organic gardening to sustainable business to eco-friendly design all from all the major news sources, including CBS, CNN, USA Today, Yahoo and more.
Ecoki: Get eco news delivered to you daily, including reviews, vegan recipes, lifestyle news and tips.
iNews Green Tech: Get the latest green tech news on your iPhone. You can save it for offline reading, email stories to friends, and add news feeds. Sources include CNET, Scientific American, Yahoo, and more.
Green Living: O’Reilly Media has put out this manual that helps making eco-minded decisions easier. Loaded up with advice for work habits, home routine changes, shopping and other areas of life where we could use a little help greening up.
Green Book Lite: A fat reference guide and tips resource for green living. Easily accessible information, and shows how even tiny steps can make big impacts.
Discovery Channel: Get video clips from Myth Busters, Man vs. Wild and other great shows, plus news, photo galleries, quizzes and other cool earth-oriented information.
Huffington Post: Huffington Post maintains an excellent green news section, which you can access through this app. Stay on top of the latest in green happenings.

Green Thinking

Being green isn’t a trend, it’s a lifestyle. To be a tree hugger, you have to think like one first. Let these apps help you make the jump into greenness.

Recycler: Know which plastics are recyclable, and navigate the sometimes confusing recycling stream. Helps you keep track of which can be recycled by your pick up.
A Real Tree: When you buy this app, a real tree is planted in one of 12 countries fighting deforestation, including Brazil, Zambia, Haiti and others around the globe. The app developers are in partnership with the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP).
iPhorest: Every time you plant a virtual tree on your phone, a real one is planted. The effort is a partnership of iPhactory, EcoLife and The Conservation Fund. Plant your tree, watch it grow and flourish, and know that there are real trees out there doing the same thing every time you plant a new one on your phone.
iRecycle: Earth 911 helps us recycle more effectively with this app. Access information on over 100,000 recycling centers nationwide where over 200 materials can be dropped off. Get directions to the nearest facilities, and call them directly from the search results.
Ecofinder: Specific to the San Francisco, California area – but we’re hoping the idea will spread. With the help of app developers, the city has created a tool that tells residents what materials can be recycled, what recycling resources are available, and the easiest ways to dispose of various materials.

Good Green Times

Nobody said saving the earth would be easy, but it sure can be fun.

ECOcal: An interactive daily calendar of the earth and stars, with lots of interesting facts about wildlife and astronomy. Beautifully illustrated.
Save Our Snow: Clif Bar wants you to ski smartly to save the planet. It ranks ski resorts based on sustainability, as well as gives loads of information on ski conditions at those resorts.
GreenGames: An oxymoron in name and premise, this game nevertheless may prove to be a good time. Buy low, sell high is the goal, and it focuses on sustainable products like reusable shopping bags. Plays on green consumerism.
Geocaching Toolkit: For geocachers, get your waypoints, decrypt hints quickly, and easily make calculations that will get you from cache to cache.
H20 Mission: Learn about water pollution with this fun game. The goal is to keep pollutants out of the water supply, or send it to recycling if it becomes too contaminated while still collecting enough water to sustain yourself.
EarthLite: Cool earth trivia. Play with your friends, or just grow your brain.
Star Walk: This augmented reality app guides you as you look at the stars. Point your phone at the night sky and learn what constellations, planets and individual stars you’re seeing.

Consuming

As a consumer, you will be faced with choices to buy cheap and deadly or green and healthy. From choosing biodegradable products to organic fruits and vegetables, to fair trade coffee, you’ll likely need some help finding the right groceries. Lucky for you, iPhone owner, your best green friend is by your side.

Greenpeace Tissue: Not sure which toilet paper or tissue paper is made from sustainably harvested wood or recycled paper? This app will tell you, helping you find which brands contain the most recycled content so you can make a decision that saves trees.
Find Green: Quickly find businesses and stores that are the most sustainable so you shop more conscientiously. Contains a database of over 56,000 businesses across 23 major industries, with more being added.
GoodGuide: While shopping, this app will guide you through just how green a product is. Search its massive database of over 70,000 products for everything from soap to soy milk. Find out what is in the product, and how healthy it is for you and the environment.
Coupon Sherpa: Leave paper behind and get your coupons on your phone. The barcodes show up on your screen, which you show at checkout. We wish the coupons were a little broader in terms of how green the products are. But paperless where possible is a good thing.
GarageBuy: Brings eBay to your mobile, allowing you to search for, bid on and track purchases. We especially like it for helping to buy secondhand from indie retailers.
Craigslist: Craigslist is heaven for a greenie. Search, browse, post and respond to Craigslist items. Loads of great features make it easier to find and keep track of items you need or are donating or selling.
Local Reuse: Keep items in the consumer stream. Use the app to donate or call dibs on an item within your neighborhood. Post and search within geographical area, category, description, and includes images.
Gorgeously Green: Shopping for sustainable cosmetics and personal care products is easier with this app, walking you through the hazards of choosing beauty products. Tells you where it’s most important to buy organic, and the toxic materials that are in various products.
Cruelty Free: Easy shopping guide that shows you which companies and products are cruelty free. Lists over 200 US and Canadian companies that don’t use animal testing.
Greenopia: Specific to Los Angeles area, but a great idea for app developers to take to other locations. Easy guide for area’s green businesses. Access directories of over 1,000 shops and products, and access reviews. Browse your surroundings with an aerial map.
GoOrganic: Enter your zipcode to find stores near you where you can pick up a free coupon book of organic products and foods.
Locavore: A tool for people who want to buy local foods and goods. Shows you local retailers, farmers’ markets, restaurants that buy from local farmers and so on.
Soleil Organics: If you can’t get to a farmers’ market and you’re stuck in a grocery store, and you’re on a shoestring budget, this app will tell you when you should splurge on organics, and when you can skip it.

100 Free eBooks for Your Personal & Professional Development

Posted by Site Administrator on November 15, 2009 - No Comments

While libraries and bookstores can be great places to find books that will assist you in improving your health, mental well-being, success and professional status, you don’t have to leave the house to find great reads on those topics. There are a number of free ebooks out there that offer just as much great information and won’t take any of your time or money to acquire. Here are a list of 100 you can download and read to work on yourself and your career.

Fitness and Health

If you want to learn to treat your body better and get healthy, these books will be right up your alley.

365 Tips for Healthy Living: In this book you’ll find a healthy tip for every day of the year.
Winning the Weight Loss Battle: If you’re trying to lose weight, download this book for some helpful advice.
How to Stop Smoking Forever: Smoking is terrible for your health, so stop struggling with quitting by getting guidance from this book.
Fitness: The Guide to Staying Healthy: Learn how to get yourself in shape and stay that way with this free book.
Flab to Fab in Only 15 Minutes a Day: Getting in shape doesn’t have to take up all your time as this short workout book advises.
Health and Fitness Nutrition: This ebook offers some useful advice on eating right and getting in shape.
How to Boost Your Metabolism: Learn how to make your body burn more calories with the information in this ebook.
The Busy Woman’s Fitness Solutions: Even if you have little time to work out, this book will show you how to make fitness a part of your life.
The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of: Check out this book to learn the exercises you should be doing but might not know about.
Big Fat Lies: This book explores many of the myths and lies spread about weight loss programs and products.

Leadership

Learn to improve your leadership and management skills through these ebooks.

Leadership Series: Go through this series of books to learn more about improving your leadership skills.
Inspiration: This ebook offers some thoughts on inspiration and how it can make you a better leader.
A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management: Learn the difference between just managing people and truly leading them from this book.
A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference: Find out some of the qualities that make a great leader in this book.
Strategic Leadership And Decision Making: Read through this book to get some insights into how to be a great leader at work.
Prescription Leadership: The 9 Practical Skills Needed For Health Professionals To Thrive In The 21st Century: If you’re in the health care field, this book can offer you some great tips on getting ahead–many of which translate into other fields as well.
The Leadership Lexicon: Find out the areas where you need to establish competency to be a leader as well as get tips on how to get yourself there with this book.
Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Self Leadership: You can’t lead others until you get a handle on yourself, and this book will show you how.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speaking in Public With Confidence: If you get the chills just thinking about public speaking, this book can help you learn some tricks to make you a more self-assured speaker.
Power Speaking: The Art of the Exceptional Public Speaker: Learn how your public speaking can inspire and lead with the pointers from this ebook.
Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time: If you want to learn to be a leade,r this book will help you expand on the qualities you already have.

Organization and Simplicity

These free reads will help you get your life in order.

Clutter 101: The Definitive Guide To De-Cluttering Your Life: Finally clear out all that old junk and get your home or office in order with tips from this book.
Living Naked: Personal Transformation Through Bare Simplicity: This ebook will help you learn to live a much more simple kind of life.
Conquer Clutter and Organize Your Life: Get a handle on all the stuff you have with the advice you’ll find here.
Neat & Simple Feng Shui Tips for Creating a Space You Love!: This guide will help you reorganize, clean and decorate your space according to the Feng Shui way.
89 Ways to Simplify Your Life: Check out this ebook to get some ideas on how to live a life of simplicity.
Live Simple: Radical Tactics to Reduce the Clutter, Complexity, and Costs of Your Life: Learn what benefits simplifying your life can have emotionally, physically and even financially.
Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals: This ebook will teach you how to focus and get rid of all the extraneous distractions in your life that could be holding you back.

Finances

From managing your money to making a small fortune, these books will help you make sound financial decisions.

Thriving On Less: Simplifying In A Tough Economy: This ebook will teach you how to be happy spending less–essential in tough times.
How to Become a Billionaire: Get some sage advice on building your personal fortune from this free book.
Think and Grow Rich: Check out this text to understand the mindset needed to manage money wisely.
Money and Abundance: Unlocking Your Abundance: Use the knowledge gleaned from this book to better deal with the money you have.
Acres of Diamonds: This book will explain some of the principles of how to be successful with money.
Science of Getting Rich: Here you can learn some basic principles that could have you building a personal fortune.
The Get Rich Slowly Guide to Roth IRAs: Learn how to invest in your future wisely with this free book from the well-known blog.
Plan Z: How to Survive the Financial Crisis: If you’re struggling in this economy, this book can give you some tips that can help you make it through.
Tips for Change: Try out this ebook to learn some essential money-management skills.
No Credit Needed Debt Reduction Guide: Those with a seemingly endless mountain of debt can learn how to fight it with this ebook.
Investing Made Simple: Investing doesn’t have to be complicated and only for the professionals, as this book proves.

Productivity

Try out these books to learn to get more done in less time.

Single-Minded Focus: Learn how to hone in your attention to one task at a time and be more productive in the process.
84 Tips on Overcoming Procrastination: Procrastination is the enemy of productivity, and you can learn to fight it with tips from this ebook.
Slow Down Fast: A Revolutionary How-To Guide For Being Productive, Efficient, and Effective: This book explains how slow and steady may help you win the productivity race.
Maximum Productivity: Get some tips on maximizing your productivity potential from this free book.
Time Management Top Tips: Here you’ll find some great tips to help you more effectively manage your time.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: This ebook will teach you the principles of the Getting Things Done method.
Six Sigma For Quality And Productivity Promotion: If you’re interested in Six Sigma, you should read this book for more information on what it stands for and what it has to offer.
Total Productivity Maintenance: A Route To World-Class Performance: Learn how to improve your performance at work through increasing your productivity.

Relationships

Build better relationships at work and at home with guidance from these reads.

Change How You Communicate: Do you struggle to communicate with your loved ones and coworkers? This book offers advice that can help you change your communication methods and improve your relationships in the process.
The Woman’s Relationship Bible: Women of all ages can find sage advice on relationships in this book.
How to Get a Girlfriend: If you’re a single man who doesn’t want to be alone any longer, try reading this dating book for some advice.
How to Make Friends: Whether you’re lonely or you just want more friends, this book offers some helpful advice on seeking out and keeping new pals.
Love is All About You!: Learn why a great relationship begins with yourself in this free ebook.
97 Steps to a Happy Relationship: This ebook offers some advice on building a better relationship one step at a time.
How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less: Some people flounder in social situations while others excel. Learn the tricks that make some people so likeable in this book.
Better Love Next Time: How the Relationship that Didn’t Last Can Lead You to the One that Will: Breakups are hard, but this book will teach you how they can serve as great lessons for finding a partner who’s truly right for you.
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time: Build up your success in business with some tips from this book on networking and relationship building.
How to Instantly Connect with Anyone: 96 All-New Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships: Whether you’re on a date or are trying to make a sale, this book offers you some advice on building strong relationships from the start.
The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships: If you’re more of a talker than a listener, learn from this ebook why you should take a step back and listen more often.
What Smart Couples Know: The Secret to a Happy Relationship: Those having trouble in their relationships can find some advice and guidance in building trust, and coming together as a couple from this ebook.

Attitude and Stress

These ebooks will show you how to destress and change the way you think about yourself and your life.

Developing the Success Mindset: Learn how to change how you think, and achieve success in the process, from this ebook.
Train Your Brain: Check out this book to learn how to improve your memory and think differently.
50 Ways to a Positive Consciousness: A negative attitude may be hurting your happiness, so this ebook promise to teach you how to think positively.
Stress Is For Suckers: This ebook will help you learn how to cut stress out of your life.
The Beautiful Calm Meditation Ebook: Improve your meditation skills with a little help from this ebook.
How to Practice the Art of Life Balance: With work, friends, family, school and other commitments, life can get pretty busy. This book offer some advice on achieving a balance between the different aspects of your life.
Being Humble: Confidence is great, but when it develops into arrogance trouble can be afoot. This ebook will help you learn the art of being humble.
The Confidence Booster: If you need a surge of self-esteem and assurance, try reading this book for some ideas.
50 Simple Stress Relief Strategies: Learn some easy ways that you can battle the stress in your life from this text.
Don’t Stress…Your Life is Calling!: Many events in life can seem overwhelming and incredibly stressful, but this book asks you to relax and embrace the process of life instead.
Think Positive: Try out this book to learn to battle your negative thoughts and take on a positive mindset.

Motivation and Affirmation

If you need some help getting motivated or feeling confident that you can accomplish your goals, give these books a try.

Motivation 101 Tips: If you’re in short supply of motivation, tap into the tips offered in this ebook.
Pushing Your Limits: Learn how to stop settling and achieve your personal goals from this book.
When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat: This ebook will help you get motivated and feel good about what your abilities are.
Road Blocks to Happiness and How To Overcome Them: For many people, finding true happiness isn’t an easy task. This book will help you learn how to overcome obstacles and find your true place in life.
101 Motivational Quotes: The quotes in this book are chosen to help you get motivated and feel productive.
The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done: If you’re struggling to get started on a big project or something important in your life, this book offers a tip a day to get you moving.
The Power of Self-Esteem: An Inspiring Look At Our Most Important Psychological Resource: Build up your reserve of self-esteem with a little help from this free book.
Motivation for the Demotivated: If you’re just not feeling it, this book offers some ways that you can get inspired, pull yourself together and start acting.
The Art of Self Encouragement: Learn how to support your own efforts at change and progress with advice from this book.
Top 10 Tips for Self Improvement: The basic tips in this book will have you getting started on the road to being a better you.

Achieving Dreams

Everyone has dreams, and these books will give you the push you need to finally achieve them.

4 Steps to Create the Life You Desire: This ebook will teach you to stop wishing for a different life and starting making your life better.
5 Simple Steps to an Awesome Life: Learn how to make your life a little more awesome with the basic advice from this ebook.
Opening Doors: A Mini Guide to Blissful Guide to Blissful Living: When one door closes another opens, and this book teaches you to embrace change and live more blissfully.
Passion: Read this ebook to learn how to define and harness your passion.
Confidence & Courage Tips…To Help You Realize Your Dreams: If you can’t seem to muster the confidence to follow your dreams, this book offers some tips that will have you feeling assured and ready to take on the world.
The Essentials of Personal Growth: Read this ebook to better understand how to grow and change as a person.
No More Shyness: Those who have struggled to come out of their shells can read this ebook to learn how to put the shyness aside and become confident.
16 Weeks to Your Dream Business: Entrepreneurs can get some insights into building a business that lasts from this ebook.
Coach Yourself to Success : 101 Tips from a Personal Coach for Reaching Your Goals at Work and in Life: No matter what your goals are, this ebook offers you a hundred plus tips on how to be your own biggest fan and finally achieve your dreams.
Sun Tzu For Success: How to Use the Art of War to Master Challenges and Accomplish the Important Goals in Your Life: This ebook takes a look at the ancient text by Sun Tzu and shows you how the lessons can be learned to fight your way to success.

Career Goals

Work towards getting that promotion, finding a job you love, or even changing careers altogether with helpful advice from these books.

Career Satisfaction From Within: This ebook will help you find out how to be more satisfied with where you are in your career simply by changing your mindset.
Work Happy The Google Way: Learn why employees at Google are so happy and what you can do to make your workplace happier as well.
Quit Your Day Job: Have a dream? This ebook encourages you to pursue it.
Goal Setting: Learn how to set and pursue your goals for work, or anything else, in this ebook.
The New Boss: How to Survive the First 100 Days: If you’ve finally gotten that promotion, learn how to deal with all the problems that often affect new managers and execs with help from this ebook.
Negotiate to WIN – The 21 rules for successful negotiating: Whether you’re negotiating for a raise or a business deal, get some pointers on how to be a stronger player in negotiations from this ebook.
The Successful Introvert: How to Enhance Your Job Search and Advance Your Career: This ebook is catered towards those who are simply shyer or less assertive, but who still want to get ahead in the working world.
Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies For Reinventing Your Career: Learn how to make a successful career change from this ebook, with some less than usual tips on how to get it done.
The 15 Second Principle Short Simple Steps To Achieving Long Term Goals: This ebook will give you some guidance on how to start working towards your goals, little by little.
The Seasons of Your Career : How to Master the Cycles of Career Change: Nothing ever stays the same, and you can learn how to manage changes in your career and your industry with advice from this ebook.

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